


Myths, Magic, and Alchemy

by Silverdam



Series: When Heroes Meet [1]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Crossover, Gen, Minor Character Death, Multiple Crossovers, Teacher Edward Elric, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-04-05 03:30:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 77,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14035239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverdam/pseuds/Silverdam
Summary: Edward Elric is given a new mission; to teach alchemy at a magic school. At the same time, Chiron give Percy, Thalia, and Nico a new quest; to go back in time and protect a certain wizard. Chaos is in the making when their paths cross during Harry Potter's third year at Hogwarts. Rated T for some violence and occasional language, courtesy of Ed.





	1. You Really Put the 'Rave' in 'Travel'

**Author's Note:**

> A/N-This is my first fan fiction, so please pardon any OOC-ness, short chapters, and plot holes, I am trying my best. I will be sticking with canon pairings, but I’m not good at writing romance so don’t expect a lot. I will try to update frequently, but I do have schoolwork I have to work around. I will try to make the chapters longer as the story progresses. Sorry for the long authors note! Enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our adventure begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan.

**Edward**

Edward Elric stepped off of the train onto the platform at King’s Cross Station. Though it was a beautiful sunny day, the weather was not helping his poor spirits. No amount of sunshine and daisies would be able to brighten his day, not with the issues he was facing right now.

The series of events that had led him to be standing on this particular platform in a country thousands of miles from Amestris had started with a simple-looking mission folder. The normal look was utterly deceptive, however, because this mission had been delivered by the Fuhrer himself, which led to all sorts of complications.

Of all the missions Edward had received during his time in the military, this was by far the one he detested most. Teaching. Teaching alchemy. Not only that, but it was at a school in a country that he hadn’t even heard of until one week ago. But that wasn’t even the worst part. No, there were actually several things that made this mission terrible.

The first was that his younger brother Alphonse was not permitted to go with him. Apparently, he would be ‘too conspicuous.’ Of course, Ed knew that this was true, but that didn’t make him like it any more. To add on to that, he would be gone for nearly an entire year in this strange country, and Al would barely be able to visit. But to top it all off, supposedly this school taught _magic._ _Magic._

When Colonel Roy Mustang looked his subordinate right in the eyes and told him that he would be teaching at Hogwarts, a school for young wizards and witches, Ed had replied ‘yeah, and you’re not useless in the rain anymore.’ Needless to say, the Colonel was not pleased with that response. That was when Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye had stepped in to confirm it, and she wasn’t one to joke around.

Ed had only had a week to gather enough belongings for the year and say goodbye to Al before he caught the train to England. He didn’t have that much to pack. A few changes of clothes, his alchemy research, and, unfortunately, a military uniform. He hadn’t been required to wear a military uniform before, but Colonel Mustang had given him one.

He claimed that he needed to proudly represent Amestris and was expected to wear it at any formal occasions. He then smirked and said that he was surprised they had been able to find one in his size. Ed frowned in annoyance as he thought back on it. He had stuffed the stupid thing at the bottom of his bag and hoped that it never had to see the light of day.

Ed growled in frustration as he tried to see above the crowd. He had been told that someone from the school would meet him between platforms 9 and 10. Supposedly he would know who they were, though he didn’t know how that would be. He didn’t even speak the language because he hadn’t had any way to study it at all. He just hoped that these ‘wizards’ knew what they were doing.

After much pushing and shoving, Edward finally made it to platforms 9 and 10. The crowds had begun to thin with the departure of a train, allowing him to finally able to see clearly. There were only a few people standing in-between the two platforms, and they all looked…normal.

Then Ed caught sight of a man leaning against the side of the barrier between the platforms. The man looked sickly and tired and was carrying a worn out travel case. But that wasn’t what Ed thought was strange. What was strange about the man was that he was wearing _robes._ They were old and patched, definitely worse for wear, but they definitely weren’t normal clothes.

Ed shook his head. “Crazy _wizards_ and there _dresses_ …I’m going to _kill_ Mustang when I get back…” 

Edward wasn't sure how he was suppose to communicate with this ‘wizard’, seeing as he knew no English at all, but he figured he might as well try. He walked up to the man, who seemed to be asleep standing up, and tapped him on the shoulder. The man started awake, startled, and blinked away his sleepiness. He said something in his language, and Ed shrugged, uncomprehending. Ed held out the ticket he had been given, hoping that this was the right person. If not, then this would be an even more awkward situation.

The man looked at the ticket, and understanding came over his face, then surprise as he looked closer at Ed. He said something else, but Ed just shrugged again. The man snapped his fingers, then pulled out a thin wooden stick. Ed eyed it skeptically. Did these people seriously have magic wands? The man muttered a few strange words and waved the stick at Ed. Then he smiled and put the stick away.

“There! Now we should be able to understand each other.” The man smiled at Ed. “My name is Remus Lupin.” He held out his hand.

“Edward Elric,” Ed said, shaking Remus’s hand.

“So are you the new alchemy teacher? I wasn't aware that you were so…” Lupin paused.

Ed tensed, waiting for some comment about his height. Mustang had warned him to keep his temper in check, but it wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

“…young.” Lupin finished.

Ed scowled. “I’m not that young, I’m 15; and I’m a State Alchemist, which is what your headmaster requested.”

“You’re a State Alchemist?!” Lupin asked, obviously shocked. “You’re country allows 15-year-olds in the military?!”

“The State Alchemist program does not have an age limit. I took the test and I passed. That’s all that matters.” Ed glared at the man, daring him to ask any more questions.

Remus seemed to have recovered from his initial surprise. “Of course, I was just…a bit surprised, that’s all. Shall we be going now? We don’t want to miss the train.”

Ed hesitated. “Where exactly…is the train?” He asked, glancing back around the station.

“Ah, that’s right, I forgot that you’re a muggle,” Lupin said with a smile. “We have to step through the barrier and the Hogwarts train is on the other side.”

Ed looked at the man in disbelief. Step _through_ the barrier that was clearly made of hard bricks? Ed stepped up to the barrier and put one gloved hand on the surface to test it. Sure enough, it was solid. “Um…I’m not sure if that’s going to work,” Ed said.

Lupin shook his head. “Not for you it won’t; at least not right now. I have to give you an amulet for you to get past the anti-muggle charms.” Remus pulled out his stick again. “Do you have anything that you carry with you all the time?” 

Ed pulled out his silver pocket watch. He hesitated a bit before holding it out. “Here. This will work.”

Lupin took the watch and tapped it a few times, saying more of those strange words. Even with his translation spell, Ed couldn’t understand them. He also wondered what ‘muggle’ meant; Lupin had said the word twice, both times in reference to Ed. Lupin handed his watch back and Ed gratefully shoved it back in his pocket.

“That’s a beautiful design,” Lupin commented.

“It’s the mark State Alchemist; we all receive one when given our certification,” Ed explained. Lupin nodded.

“Well, now that that’s taken care of,” Lupin said, turning back to the barrier. “We should get going. The students should begin to arrive soon, and we don’t want to get caught up in the crowd. We might end up without a compartment.” With that, he stepped forward and walked right through the barrier.

Ed blinked in shock. He had half expected that Lupin had been kidding, but obviously, he wasn’t. Taking a deep breath, Edward stepped forward through the barrier. When he opened his eyes, he was standing on a train platform. A shining scarlet steam engine lay on the tracks in front of him. His eyes widened in surprise.

Lupin was grinning widely as he stared at the bright red train. “It sure is nice to see it again,” he said wistfully. “I never thought I’d return to Hogwarts as a teacher, but here I am. Let’s head on board and find a compartment.”

Ed nodded. He figured that Remus wanted to sit down. The wizard looked ready to collapse. They walked onto the train and found a compartment rather easily. There weren’t many students on board yet. After stowing his luggage in the overhead racks, Remus sat down next to the window. He fell asleep almost immediately.

_‘I wonder if that’s how Al feels whenever we travel,’_ Ed thought. Thinking of Al made him miss his brother. Ed sighed as he sat down opposite the professor. _‘It’s going to be a long year…’_ was his last thought as he drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: This book is currently undergoing revisions, because the first chapters were pretty horrible. If you see a note like this at the end of a chapter, then it’s been revised. That is all


	2. You Really Put the 'No' in 'Snooze'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Percy, Thalia, and Nico receive their quest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan.

**Percy**

     After the war with the giants and Gaea, Percy Jackson wanted a vacation. A very, very, very long vacation. He wanted to go to New Rome with Annabeth. He wanted to not have to worry about being attacked by monsters everywhere he turned. He wanted, for once in his life, to relax. He should have known that the word ‘relax’ was not in his vocabulary; it had been eradicated long, long ago.

     His day had started out fine. He woke up in the Poseidon cabin and ate a great breakfast that had been prepared by the wood nymphs. Then he took Blackjack out for some exercise. He was back in time for lunch, then was sitting out by the lake with Annabeth. If he could have frozen time right then, it would have been perfect. Sitting in the warm sand by the lake, Annabeth’s fingers entwined with his, her head leaning on his shoulder, watching the naiads swim and the campers row around the lake. And then Nico crashed the party. Literally.

     Percy was sure that Nico hadn’t meant to shadow travel right onto him and Annabeth. But that didn’t change the fact that the three of them were now in a very awkward heap and Percy was pretty sure that he had swallowed more than the recommended daily dosage of sand.

“Nico! What are you doing shadow traveling?! You know that Will said that you aren’t fully recovered! You’re supposed to wait another week!” Annabeth didn’t seem at all fazed by the son of Hades’ abrupt appearance and took to scolding him immediately.

“Yeah, Annabeth, I know, but Chiron told me to get here as fast as I could, and shadow travel is the fastest way for me to travel. You wouldn’t want me to disobey my elders, would you?” Nico looked at Annabeth with an expression of fake innocence.

Annabeth smirked. “Well, I’ll be sure to tell Will that you had a very good reason for disobeying him.” Nico’s eyes widened, but before he could protest, Percy butted in.

“Nico, why did Chiron want you back so fast anyway?”

Nico stood up, brushing the sand off of his black clothes. “I don’t know. I thought maybe he told you. He said it had to do with me, you, and Thalia.”

Percy groaned. “Whatever he wants the children of the big three for can’t be good,” he said dejectedly.

“Hey, you never know!” Annabeth chimed in with optimism. “He could want to…well…” She trailed off, unable to think of a likely possibility.

Percy sighed. “Well, let's go see what he wants.” He jumped to his feet and helped Annabeth up, and together they walked up to the big house.

“Ah, Nico, good to see that you made it safely. And quite a bit faster than I would have thought. I do hope you didn’t do anything that you will regret later.” Chiron smiled as Nico looked down and mumbled something under his breath. “Well, now we only have to wait for Thalia-”

“I’M HERE!” The door to the big house flew open as Thalia burst into the room. “Chiron, what’s the problem? You said it was urgent! What did you need us for? Did something happen?”

Chiron looked a bit startled at the intrusion. “What? Why do you think there’s an urgent problem? I just told you that I needed your help, and for you to come quickly-”

“You wanted all three of us,” Thalia said. Chiron raised an eyebrow. “All. Three. Of us.” She repeated, emphasizing the words. “You wouldn’t have called the children of the big three together to help you with a problem if the problem wasn’t big.”

Chiron smiled slightly. “Well, I guess it is a rather big problem. It’s going to take quite a bit of explaining though, so why don’t you all sit down.”

~o~O~o~

     Half an hour later, the demigods sat in a stunned silence as they absorbed the information Chiron had given them. Annabeth was the first to speak. “Chiron, you’re telling us that there is a whole community, countries, even, of people who were blessed by Hectate? Why would she even bless that many people? It’s not like the gods are exactly generous!” Thunder rumbled faintly in the cloudless sky. Annabeth glared at the ceiling, then turned back to Chiron.

“Well my dear, Hectate only blessed a few people, long, long ago. The blessing she gave was that their abilities would carry down through their bloodline. So now the people with her blessing today are descendants who enjoy the same benefits as their ancestors. That is why the community has multiplied so greatly. The ones that Hectate originally chose to bestow her power upon were wise, generous, and good people. Unfortunately, not all their descendants are, but that could not be helped.”

Percy furrowed his brow. “So…what does that have to do with us? From what you said, they’re completely separated from the world, and they enjoy it that way. Why are you telling us this now?”

Chiron sighed. “Well, there has been a…disturbance.”

“Disturbance? what kind of disturbance?” Nico asked, leaning across the table.

Chiron shook his head. “We aren't sure exactly; we only know that something is wrong with the time.”

Percy’s head jerked up at that. “Whoah whoah whoah, wait, the time? What do you mean the time?”

“Well, that is what we aren’t sure of. We believe that someone from this time traveled back to a few decades ago in order to change some major events. But that is the extent of our knowledge.”

“Went back in time?!” Annabeth interjected in disbelief. “But that’s imposs–you know what, I’m not even going to think about it.”

“Hey, not thinking has worked out great for Percy!” Thalia offered.

“Hey!” Percy protested as Nico snickered. Annabeth rolled her eyes, but there was a slight smile on her face.

“You never did answer our question, Chiron.” Nico said, turning serious. “What are we supposed to do? Why can’t the demigods from that time handle the situation? Why drag us into it?”

“As much as I wish it were that simple, we cannot do that for two reasons. The first is simply that those demigods don’t know about the time jumper, and by the time they realize, it could be too late. The second reason is that the time jumper is from our time, therefore he or she is our problem to take care of. We can not simply shove our problems off onto the generations before us.”

The demigods fell silent as they pondered that. Finally, Annabeth spoke up. “I see your point. I’m guessing that the gods want us to travel back and stop whoever it is that left?”

Chiron nodded sadly. “I’m afraid so. I hate to do this to you, especially right after everything that has happened. But you need to leave immediately.”

“Hang on,” Percy interjected. “If we’re going to time travel, then can’t we wait as long as we want? I mean, we’re going back to the same time anyway, what’s the difference?”

“I’m afraid that is not the case. You see, Hectate was able to delay the time jumpers leap, so they have not yet landed in the past. If they had, then the present would already be changed and we might not be having this conversation. However, the delay only lasts for one day, and most of that day was used up by the gods arguing over a course of action. We now have roughly 4 hours until you must leave.”

“Four hours?!” The demigods sprang from their seats in shock.

“Please, sit down. We have little time and I must finish explaining your mission.” The teenagers slowly lowered themselves into their seats.

“So, I’m guessing we don’t have a choice in the matter?” Percy’s green eyes sparked angrily, though his voice remained calm.

“I’m afraid not.” Chiron said, his voice filled with regret and sadness. “The gods agreed that in order to keep from altering history as much as possible, only three demigods should go on this quest. You three were the obvious choice.” There was a pause as a realization came over them.

“Wait, three? You mean-not Annabeth?” Percy’s voice caught in his throat. The last thing he wanted was to go on another quest. Going without Annabeth would be one hundred times harder.

Chiron winced; as if he had seen this coming. “I’m afraid not, Percy. The gods would not allow it.” Percy sank back into his chair, an expression of defeat across his face. Annabeth was doing a better job of hiding hers, but the look was still there.

Chiron cleared his throat a bit awkwardly. “Well, let's get on with the rest of the information then. No interruptions until I am finished, please. When you are transported back, you will be in charge of protecting a thirteen-year-old wizard by the name of Harry Potter. He is instrumental in the defeat of the dark wizard Voldemort. Based off of where and when the time jumper is headed, it is logical to assume that he is aiming for Harry Potter. You need to befriend him so that you can stay with him and protect him. You will be sent under the guise of foreign exchange students at Hogwarts, the magic school. You will be placed back into your thirteen-year-old bodies for effectiveness."

You will arrive a few weeks early and stay with a family by the name of Weasley. They are close friends of Harry’s, and you will be able to befriend him before the start of school. The headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, is aware of the existence of demigods and is a friend of mine. I have written him a letter explaining the basics of the situation and he will arrange everything. This quest could take anywhere from three months to three years. You must stay strong until you are absolutely sure that you have caught not only the time jumper but anyone he is allied with. If he tells anyone about the future, it could be catastrophic."

The same goes for you. No matter what happens, you cannot let anyone find out who you are, no matter how trustworthy. And you cannot change the past. I have books here that tell of the events that took place during Harry’s time at Hogwarts. You must read them and understand everything that happened. It will be hard, very hard, but you must let these events, no matter how horrible, unfold the way they are supposed to. Hectate has covered these books with the mist so that no one else can read them. But what you must remember most of all, do. Not. Change. Anything.”

There was a dead silence as Chiron finished talking. No one moved. They all realized the gravity of the situation. Chiron, seeing this, nodded. “You should all go now; pack, say goodbye, and meet back here in three hours.”

Saying goodbye to his mom and Annabeth was the hardest thing Percy had ever done. “Hey, don’t cry, Wise Girl, you’re not even going to miss me. I’m the one who should be crying.” Percy forced himself to smile.

Annabeth sniffed, holding back tears. “I know that, but you’re still going off on another life-threatening quest, and I’m stuck here, not able to do anything. It’ll be a second for me, but years for you. That’s years with you that I’m missing out on.”

Percy felt his throat closing up. “Don’t worry Wise Girl, I won’t forget you.” Percy’s voice cracked as he pulled Annabeth into a hug. “Besides, I’ll be in my thirteen-year-old body. Do you really want to go back to model thirteen Percy?”

Annabeth laughed softly as they pulled apart. “Here, Seaweed-brain, take this.” She held out her baseball cap to him. “It’ll be useful. I’m not going to miss it, after all. That is, unless you lose it or something. You’d better not lose it.”

Percy took the Yankees cap and carefully put it in his bag. “I’ll bring it back. I promise. I’ll bring you something from the past, to.”

Annabeth smiled, back to herself. “Better be something good,” She teased. Percy grinned, the went to join Thalia and Nico. It was time to start a quest.


	3. You Really Put the 'Able' in 'Questionable'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Golden Trio meets the Questing Trio

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don’t own the song ‘This is War’ by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

**Harry**

     After the unfortunate incident of blowing up his aunt, Harry Potter was having a rather nice summer. The Weasley family had brought along three foreign exchange students from America. They were all three in his year, and they were very friendly, though a bit odd. They acted strangely sometimes. They would occasionally speak in Greek for some reason and do other odd things. But, strangeness aside, they were normal.

     They were quite obviously muggle-born. They reacted with not-well-concealed surprise at almost anything magical. Harry found this a bit odd, considering this was their third year exposed to the magical world. He, Ron, and Hermione soon became friends with them. There was quite a bit of confusion caused by one of them, whose name was Percy, seeing as a Weasley went by the same name.

     Thalia ‘accidentally’ let slip that Percy’s real name was Perseus, but after a few hours of calling him that, Percy had begged them all to stop. Apparently, he wasn’t fond of his full name. Of course, Fred and George took to teasing him mercilessly about it. Harry was sure that his name wouldn’t stay a secret at school for long. After getting to know the three foreigners, Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys were trying to decide which houses they would be sorted into.

“I think that Thalia is a shoo-in for Gryffindor.” Commented Ron.

“Is that a good thing?” Thalia asked.

“Yeah! Gryffindor is the best house!” Ron said enthusiastically.

“It’s the house that all of us are in,” Harry said. “Gryffindor values bravery, daring, nerve, and chivalry. Hufflepuff values hard work, dedication, patience, loyalty, and fair play. Ravenclaw values intelligence and knowledge. The Slytherin house values ambition, cunning, and resourcefulness.”

“I think Percy might end up in Hufflepuff,” Hermione said.

“Pfft, hard work? Percy? Are we talking about the same Percy?” Thalia snickered.

“Hey, I can be hard working!” Percy protested.

“What about me?” Nico asked. “Where do you think I fit best?” Of course, the demigods knew that Dumbledore had arranged for them to be placed in the Gryffindor house. Even so, they were curious about the other’s opinions.

“Hmmm, that’s a hard one.” Fred or George eyed him skeptically, taking in his black clothing and skull ring. “Well, appearance-wise, you look like a Slytherin-” said one twin.

“-But, you’ve got a better personality than half the Slytherins,” interjected the other.

“I’d say you could go to Gryffindor or Slytherin, fifty/fifty chance.” Finished the first.

“We’ll have to wait and see what the hat decides,” Hermione said.

Harry grinned. “I hope you get put in Gryffindor. Not that there’s anything wrong with the other houses–apart from Slytherin, that is.”

“What’s wrong with Slytherin?” Percy asked, confused.

“The Slytherin house is known for being evil,” said Ron. “That house has produced the darkest wizards out of all of them. Trust me, the Slytherins are a nasty bunch.”

Thalia frowned. “You can’t judge the whole house because some of them have turned out evil. Of course, a house that values cunning and ambition will end up choosing people who go on to be evil. That doesn’t mean that they all are. In fact, it's likely that some of them end up like that because that’s what everyone expects from them.”

Ron didn’t look convinced, but he nodded. “Yeah, I guess so, but if you’d ever met Malfoy, you would know what I meant. Nico stood up an stretched.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m tired. We have to get up early to catch the train tomorrow, so we should head to sleep.” The others stood up.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Harry sighed. He was excited to get back to Hogwarts. “I wonder who the Defense against the Dark Arts professor will be this year.”

“I hope he’s better than last year’s,” Fred or George said fervently.

“You can say that again. I think anyone would be better than that nutter!” Ron agreed. The Wizards headed to their separate rooms to sleep.

~o~O~o~

The next morning, the wizards stood outside platform nine and three quarters.

“Alright Harry, you come first with me.” Mr. Weasley grabbed Harry’s luggage and rushed through the barrier with him.” They waited on the other side as Percy, Nico, and Thalia walked through, expressions of surprise on their faces.

“Huh, it actually worked. I wonder if it uses the mist.” Percy commented. Harry was about to ask him what ‘the mist’ was, but before he had a chance the rest of the Weasleys stepped through and Mrs. Weasley was hurrying them onto the train.

“Go on now, you don’t want to miss it! Now, be good, you two,” she said to the twins, enveloping them in a hug. “Don’t forget to write, look after your sister, and study hard.” She gave each of them a hug, including Harry, Hermione, Percy, Nico, and Thalia. The later three looked a bit surprised but happy.

They waved goodbye to Mrs. Weasley as they stepped onto the train. Percy Weasley hurried off saying something about ‘head boy duties’ but no one was listening to him. Fred and George went to find Lee Jordan, and Ginny headed off with her friends, leaving the six of them to find a compartment.

“C’mon, let's find an empty one.” Harry wanted to find a compartment as soon as possible so that he could tell the others about Mr. Weasley’s warning.

     He was a bit hesitant to tell the three Americans, but everything that he had seen from them said that they were trustworthy. After all, this wasn’t something that was top secret; though he didn’t want that many people knowing. The six of them walked through the train, looking for an empty compartment. Finally, they ended up at the back of the train after checking almost all the compartments.

Nico opened the compartment door. “This one’s mostly empty; there are only two people in it, which is better than the other’s we’ve tried. We’ll fit in here.”

The six of them crowded into the compartment and put away their luggage, then turned to the two other occupants. There was a sickly looking man with brown hair dressed in worn and patched robes. Across from him sat a young boy with long blond hair pulled back into a braid, and wearing a long, bright red coat. They were both asleep, leaning against the windows.

“Who are they?” Asked Ron. “I haven’t seen either of them before.

Hermione examined the case that belonged to the older man. “Professor R. J. Lupin,” she read quietly. “He must be the new Defense against the Dark Arts professor.”

“So who’s the kid then?” Asked Thalia. “You said you didn’t know him either.”

“He must be a new first-year,” Harry said. “Though he looks a little tall for an eleven-year-old.” It may have been Harry’s imagination, but he thought that he saw boy’s eyebrows twitch. He shrugged it off and turned to the others. “I have to tell you something.” In whispers, he quickly explained what Mr. Weasley had told him about Sirius Black. When he had finished, the others stared at him with wide eyes. Hermione was the first to speak.

“Harry, you better not do anything stupid.”

“What makes you think I’m going to do something stupid?” Harry asked, offended.

“Well, you did blow up your aunt and then run away,” offered Nico.

“That was an accident!” Huffed Harry. “Well, not the running away part I guess. But it’s not like I’ll have a chance to do anything stupid. I’m not even going to be able to go to Hogsmeade.”

“What?! Why can’t you?” Ron asked in disappointment.

Harry sighed. “My uncle wouldn’t sign my permission slip.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, we can’t go either.” Percy chimed in.

“We didn’t know about the Hogsmeade trip, so we couldn’t get anything signed,” Thalia explained. Harry felt a little better knowing that three of his friends would be staying with him, but he was still disappointed. The train whistle blew, and the train lurched and started moving. The professor wasn’t disturbed at all, but the blond boy’s eyes blinked open. To his surprise, Harry saw that his eyes were golden.

“Hello there!” Hermione said cheerily. “You must be a first-year. My name is Hermione Granger.” She held out her hand with a smile. The boy looked like he was about to explode.

Through gritted teeth, he said, “I am not a first-year, I am fifteen!”

     The way he spoke was odd; as if the words were changed after they left his mouth. He also had an odd accent; one that Harry had never heard before. Hermione looked startled but recovered quickly. She opened her mouth to say something else, but just then the door to the compartment slid open, revealing Malfoy, flanked as usual by Crabbe and Goyle.

“Potter, Weasel,” he sneered. “And who are they?” he gestured to the three Americans. Harry was about to reply, but before he could even open his mouth the compartment door slammed shut, with Malfoy on the other side. Harry stared at Nico.

“What?” Nico said. “There isn’t some rule saying that we have to allow anyone to come barging into our compartment, is there?”

“No, there isn’t,” Ron said, grinning. “Blimey, I wish I could see Malfoy’s face right now!” Suddenly the train jerked to a stop, screeching on the tracks.

“Are we there already?” Thalia asked. “I thought you said the train ride was longer than this.”

“It is,” Hermione said warily. The lights in the compartment went out, enveloping them in blackness. There was a thump, signaling someone entering their compartment.

“Ouch! You stepped on me!” came Ron’s voice.

“Sorry!” That was Ginny.

“Ginny? What are you doing in here?” Harry asked.

“I came to find Ron.”

“Quiet! Stay where you are!” came a new voice. A light illuminated the compartment, and Harry saw that the professor was standing up with his wand lit. Everyone froze, eyes trained on the professor. The compartment door opened yet again, but slower this time. It revealed a tall figure, dressed completely in black robes, with no skin visible. There was a rattling sound as if the creature was breathing in, and Harry felt goosebumps on his arms. Then, he felt complete terror, and as he collapsed on the floor, he could hear screams of fear.

~o~O~o~

Harry’s eyes opened and he sat up slowly. He groaned and put his hands up to his head. “What happened? Who screamed?” He asked, as his eyes adjusted to his surroundings.

“No one screamed,” Ron said nervously. “You and that other kid fainted and started shaking.”

 _‘Other kid?’_ Harry looked around and caught sight of the golden-eyed boy. He was lying crumpled on the seat, unconscious. Occasionally his body would tremble. Suddenly there was a loud snap, and they all jumped. Professor Lupin was breaking chocolate into pieces and handing them out.

“Here, eat these, it’ll make you feel better.”

He handed Harry the largest piece. Harry took it, his eyes still on the boy. “Um, professor, will he be alright?”

Professor Lupin turned to the boy with a worried look. “I’ll take him to the medical ward when we arrive. I’m sure he’ll be fine once he wakes up. We should be at Hogwarts soon.”

With a start, Harry realized that the train was moving again. He got up and sat back down in his seat, biting into the chocolate. “So, none of you were affected like that?” He asked, embarrassed. The rest of them shook their heads.

“It was horrible though,” Ginny whispered. “It was like all the happiness had been sucked out of me, and I felt so cold.” Professor Lupin nodded.

“Dementors will do that to you. Nasty creatures; they feed on human emotion.” The train slowed, then stopped completely. “Ah, here we are.” Professor Lupin stooped down and picked up the boy; or, tried to. He didn’t actually lift him that far. “How is someone so small that heavy?!” He exclaimed. The professor pulled out his wand and muttered a spell. Then he bent down and picked the boy up with ease. “Alright, move along then,” he ordered, and they all walked off of the train.

     After the carriage ride up to the castle, the seven students headed into the great hall. They watched the retreating figure of the professor carrying the strange boy in the direction of the hospital wing.


	4. You Really Put the 'Hell' in "Hello'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Edward makes an entrance, as usual…and is annoyed, as usual

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan.

**Edward**

The first thing that Edward realized when he woke up was that he was in a bed. Which he found odd; because the last thing he remembered was being on a train. Then his memories came back to him. He remembered the black cloaked figure, the terrifying coldness that came with it, and seeing-he shut his eyes tightly. No. He wasn’t going to think about that. But even so, he shuddered as he remembered. He opened his eyes as he heard footsteps drawing closer, and saw a woman rushing over to his bed.

“Oh, good, you’re awake. You were starting to worry me. Here, eat this.” The woman held out what looked like…chocolate? Ed looked at it in confusion, and she impatiently shoved it in his mouth. “Go on, eat! I haven’t seen such a bad reaction to dementors in quite a while, and you need to recover!” After recovering from his near death-by-chocolate experience and swallowing the brown sweet, Ed found that he did feel much better; and managed to speak at last.

“What exactly happened?” He asked. “Are we at Hogwarts?”

“That’s right dear, we’re in the hospital ward.”

Ed jolted up in realization. “Hospital ward?! I can’t be here! I’m supposed to meet Dumbledore at the opening feast!” Ed jumped out of the bed and saw, to his relief, that he still had all his clothing on. He dashed towards the door, ignoring the nurse’s protests. “Which way is it?”

“Now you wait for one moment young man!” The nurse said angrily.

“I can’t wait a moment! I’m already late! Look, I promise I’ll come back after the feast, but can you please tell me where to go?”

She huffed at him, obviously not pleased, but pointed him in the right direction after making him swear to come straight back afterward. Ed yelled a quick thank you as he ran in the direction of the Great Hall. By the time he got there, he could hear someone, presumably Dumbledore, giving some sort of speech. Ed growled in frustration.

He really hadn’t wanted to make a noticeable entrance, but now that couldn’t be avoided. He glared up at the tall doors. That was just excessive. It’s like they were trying to make him feel tiny and insignificant. And Ed hated feeling tiny. Stupid doors. He kicked them open for good measure. The voice was saying something about new teachers; perfect timing.

The speaker was an old man in robes with a long white beard. He stopped his speech as the doors opened. Ed walked across the hall, ignoring the stares of the students. He mounted the platform where the speaker stood. The students were starting to whisper. He could see that the teachers, minus Remus, seemed confused as well. Ed ignored them as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his introduction letter.

“Are you headmaster Dumbledore?” He queried. When the man nodded, he held out the letter. Dumbledore accepted the letter with a raised eyebrow. After quickly reading through it, he smiled and nodded, then turned back to the students.

“I apologize for the interruption, but it was perfectly timed. As I was saying, we have introduced a new class this year at Hogwarts, and this is your professor. Allow me to introduce your Alchemy professor, Edward Elric.” He turned to Ed and gestured towards the table. Ed turned and sat down at the table. The rest of the staff was staring at him in disbelief. Remus smiled and nodded at him.

“Good to see you back on your feet, Elric.” Ed nodded.

The headmaster had finished speaking and sat down at the table as well. Just as Ed was wondering where the food was, the platters on the table filled up with every kind of food imaginable. Ed nearly fell out of his seat in shock. A few of the teachers raised an eyebrow at him. He glared at them, daring them to say anything. They didn’t, but they kept shooting him glances throughout the entire meal, which consisted of several foods that Ed had never seen before.

The meal finished, and there was a mass exodus of young wizards and witches as they headed to their respective house sleeping areas. Ed had barely stood up from the table before five of the teachers, the nurse from the medical ward, and Dumbledore were swarming him, all talking at once. He heard a few things like “Is this a joke?” “Why is there a child?!” and “He needs to come to the medical ward!” before Dumbledore silenced them all.

“Now, I am sure that we all have questions that need to be answered. Why don’t we all head to the medical ward, where Poppy can look over our young alchemist and we can get some answers.” With that, the headmaster walked in the direction of the medical wing.

The nurse, who Ed now knew was named Poppy, grabbed Ed by the arm and dragged him along as if she were afraid he would run off again. The five teachers, including Remus, followed. Upon reaching the medical ward, Poppy shoved Ed onto a bed and began searching through several potions. Dumbledore sat down on the bed opposite Ed.

“Now, I am sure that you all want some answers,” he said with a smile.

“Dumbledore, what is the meaning of this? Did you not request a certain alchemist to come teach? Why have they sent a mere child?” A severe looking woman was the one firing these questions. She looked quite agitated, but Dumbledore didn’t look fazed in the slightest.

“Yes, Minerva, I did request that the Amestrian government send Van Hohenheim, an old friend of mine. But, it seems they are unaware of his location. In addition, he is not with the military so they would have no power over him. However, Edward here is his son; and a state alchemist. I have been informed by his superiors that, despite his age, he is more than qualified to teach alchemy. His commanding officer referred to him as a genius, in fact.”

“If he is Van Hohenheim’s son, then why does he not share the same last name?” A cold voice inquired.

“He is my biological father, nothing more. I took my mother’s last name, Elric.” Ed spat out the answer while glaring at the speaker, a man with greasy black hair and black robes. The man regarded him disdainfully.

“Dumbledore, I don’t mean to question your decisions,” the woman that Dumbledore had referred to as ‘Minerva’ began. “But are you sure about this? Why would an underage child even be in the military in the first place? And, well,” she seemed to hesitate before continuing. “Is he even a wizard at all?” Dumbledore turned to Ed.

“Perhaps you would like to answer that, Mr. Elric?”

Ed turned to address the inquisitor. “To answer your first question, the State Alchemist program does not have an age limit. The test is too difficult for anyone underage to pass. Except for me, that is. I took the test and I passed. That is all that matters. And the answer to your last question is simple. No, I do not do any of this hocus-pocus nonsense with magic sticks. I am an alchemist; a scientist.” All the professors except for Lupin and Dumbledore looked shocked at his answer. After a moment of silence, the tiny wizard squeaked out,

“A muggle at Hogwarts, then! I don’t recall that ever being done before. It should be an interesting experience!” The tiny man smiled up at Ed. “Filius Flitwick, Charms professor and head of the Ravenclaw house. I look forward to working with you.”

Following the man’s lead, the three other adults introduced themselves.

“Minerva McGonagall, Transfiguration professor and head of Gryffindor. A pleasure to meet you.” The sharp looking woman nodded to him politely, obviously over her initial shock.

“Severus Snape, Potions professor and head of the Slytherin house.” The black-haired man was still looking at Ed with an expression of disdain. Ed got the feeling that the potions master wasn’t quite sure what to think of him yet.

The last professor, a woman who looked like she belonged in a garden, stepped forward. “Pomona Sprout, head of Hufflepuff. I teach Herbology.”

“And of course I am headmaster Albus Dumbledore, and you already know professor Lupin. This is Poppy Pomfrey, our wonderful school nurse, as I am sure you have already realized.” Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled behind his glasses. “Now that we have that sorted, I would recommend everyone getting a good night’s rest. As soon as Madame Pomfrey allows you to leave, McGonagall will show you to your room. In the meantime, here is a map of the grounds and your class schedule.” With that, Dumbledore stood up and headed towards the door. “If you have any question, don’t hesitate to ask any of us. Your textbooks and supplies should be in your classroom. I do hope they are sufficient. Goodnight, Mr. Elric.” The headmaster walked out of the room, followed by the five professors. Madame Pomfrey waited until they had left before turning to Ed.

“If you ever have any trouble with those limbs, please let me know and I will do what I can to help. The weather gets quite cold up here, and I’m sure that will be quite a bit painful for you,” she said briskly. Ed opened his mouth in surprise to ask her how she knew, but she cut him off before he even started. “I’m a nurse, dearie. I noticed when professor Lupin first brought you in. I won’t ask you what happened, and I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to, but please do let me help you as much as I can. That is my job, after all.” She smiled at him.

“Th-Thank you,” Ed said. He was surprised by the nurse’s words, but definitely grateful.

“Now, I’m sure you want to be getting to sleep. Go on now, but I expect you back for a check by tomorrow afternoon at the latest!” Ed groaned internally, but he grudgingly agreed. He stepped outside the medical ward to find Professor McGonagall waiting for him.

“Alright Professor Elric, right this way. I’ll show you to your rooms. We put a spare portrait as you door temporarily, but if you would like you may provide a picture from home to use instead.”

She had begun walking while she talked. Ed was wondering why a picture would be needed when he noticed something strange about the pictures adorning the walls. He did a double take as they passed a picture of two people having tea. Sure enough, the people in the picture were moving.

“What the hell?! How are your pictures moving?!” He exclaimed loudly. Professor McGonagall stopped walking and turned back towards him.

“Do keep your voice down Mr. Elric. All of our pictures move. As to how; it’s because of magic. The people in the pictures speak as well, and the one in front of your room will require a password for you to get in. As I was saying, if you have a personal photo that you wish to use, then please have it delivered to me and I will see to it.” McGonagall answered calmly. She continued walking down the hall, forcing Ed to stop gawking at the pictures and catch up with her. Ed shook his head. He was going to have to write a long letter to Alphonse tonight.

After a long walk up many staircases and through more than one hidden door, Ed was thoroughly lost. He was immensely glad that Dumbledore had provided him with a map. There was no way that he would ever be able to get anywhere without one. Finally, they stopped in front of a large picture of a very proper looking old woman in a dress that, in Ed’s opinion, made her look like a peacock. She looked down her nose at him as he looked up at her.

“Is this really the new Alchemy Professor? A child?”

McGonagall ignored the portrait and turned to Ed. “Just tell her what you want your password to her and she will remember it.”

“How does that even work?” Ed asked skeptically.

“Is this boy even a wizard?” the portrait asked disdainfully.

Ed ignored her and spoke his password. “Alphonse.” He knew there was no way that he would ever forget that password.

“What kind of password is that? Is that supposed to be a name?” The portrait said in disgust as she swung open. Ed wrinkled his nose as he stepped through the doorway that had been revealed. He knew one thing for sure; that picture was getting replaced as soon as he could find a suitable picture. But for now, he had a letter to write.


	5. You Really Put the ‘Irk' in 'Smirk'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the demigods discover complications

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek

 

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

 

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

** Percy **

After the creepy cold cloaked figures, Percy really wanted some food and a warm bed. Unfortunately, it seemed that they had to be taken up to the castle in some carriages that were drawn by really creepy horse-bat-things, which Percy found unsettling. No one else seemed to mind it though, so Percy didn’t say anything. The blond kid stayed unconscious the entire time, and as soon as the carriage stopped Professor Lupin jumped out and hurried off in the direction of the castle. The six wizards followed, but before they could head up to the castle they were interrupted by a mocking voice.

“You fainted, Potter? You actually fainted? And it looks like that blond shrimp is even more pathetic!” The blond kid that Nico had unceremoniously slammed the door on had pushed through the crowd to stand in front of them, smirking. “Did any of your new friends faint?”

Percy really didn’t like this kid. He was like a wimpy version of Clarisse, though he looked more like Octavian. Both of those things just made him dislike the boy all the more.

“Shut up, Malfoy,” Ron said coldly. Apparently, Ron shared his feelings of dislike.

“What, you aren’t going to introduce me?” Malfoy asked, still smirking away. “My name is Malfoy. Draco Malfoy.”

_‘What is he, James Bond?’_ Percy thought with annoyance. It seemed that the name was supposed to mean something to him, but he had no idea what. “And I’m Jackson. Percy Jackson.”

Malfoy nodded, apparently oblivious to the fact that Percy was mocking him, and turned to Thalia and Nico, who were rolling their eyes at Percy’s behavior.

“Nico di Angelo.”

“Thalia.” Malfoy raised his eyebrows at her. Thalia glared right back.

Nico nudged her. “He’s going to find out eventually, Thalia.”

Thalia huffed in annoyance. “Thalia Grace,” she said grudgingly.

“If we’re done with all the introductions, can we please get something to eat? I’m starving!” Percy was tired of all the mock politeness and exchanging of names and insults. He wanted food. Malfoy sneered at them one last time before turning towards the great hall.

“You guys should probably go with the first years so that you can be sorted.” Hermione advised, gesturing over to where a giant man was standing by the boats, calling out for first years.

“Yeah, you’re probably right. See you up there,” Thalia called as they headed over to the tall man and the boats. Thalia stepped up to him. “Excuse me, sir!” She called up. The man looked down and saw them standing there. “We’re the exchange students. We were told to go with ?” The man nodded in recognition.

“Of course, Dumbledore told me all about you three. Name’s Rubeus Hagrid. Here, step inta this boat, and we’ll be headin’ across the lake.” Percy eager stepped into the boat, followed a little less enthusiastically by Thalia and Nico. Percy stuck his hand into the water as the boat started moving across the lake towards the castle. He was already planning to do some underwater exploring as soon as he got the chance. The boat ride up to the castle allowed the three demigods to take in the enormity of the Hogwarts castle and grounds.

“Holy Hera, it’s huge!” Breathed Thalia.

“How are we going to find our way around this place?” Percy groaned. “Nico you’re being really quiet.” Percy thought for a moment. “Actually, that isn’t that weird, but still.”

Nico glanced around uneasily. “Yeah, I need to tell you guys something. I didn’t want to say anything with Harry and the others around, but that blond boy…he feels…wrong. I’m not sure how exactly, but something about him is wrong, I just don’t know what.” Percy and Thalia looked at each other, worried.

“I didn’t feel anything wrong with him,” Thalia said.

“Yeah, me neither.” Percy said, thinking. “It must have something to do with death or the underworld if you’re the only one who can sense it.” The boat jolted to a stop, signaling their arrival at the castle. The demigods scrambled out of the boat.

“We’ll have to keep an eye on him,” Thalia said. “We’ll figure out what’s up with him eventually.” The three time travelers followed the horde of first years into the castle, where they were met by a strict looking older woman.

“Hello, first years, and foreign exchange students,” she said with a smile. “I am Professor McGonagall, Transfiguration teacher and head of the Gryffindor house. In just a moment, you will head into the Great Hall to be sorted. Please conduct yourselves in an orderly manner. Line up, and follow me.” She turned to Percy, Thalia, and Nico. “You three please stay at the back of the line.” She turned and walked briskly out the door, followed by a hasty line of eleven-year-olds.

The three older students tacked themselves onto the end of the line and followed the head of Gryffindor into the Great Hall. There were four huge tables in the hall, each underneath a different colored banner. Upon a platform was a smaller, but still large table, where members of the staff were seated. Looking up, Percy saw that the entire ceiling was open to the sky. He wondered how that worked when it rained. Maybe it was enchanted to work like Camp Half-Blood, he speculated.

Professor McGonagall walked forward and set an old and patched wizards hat onto a stool, then unfurled a long scroll. She didn’t read anything yet, but stood there and seemed to be waiting. Suddenly, the hat opened a slit in its front and began to sing. It startled Percy so much that he missed the first part of the song. He tried to pay attention to the rest of it, but his ADHD mind kept telling him to look at all the distractions around the hall, of which there were many. He was startled back to focus on the hat when the entire hall erupted into clapping. Apparently, the hat’s song had been good.

Professor McGonagall started reading names off of the scroll. When a name was read, the nervous you student would walk up to the stool, sit down, and put the hat on his or her head. The hat would then shout out one of the four houses, and the student would run to whichever table was relevant. Percy began wondering how the hat made its decisions. For some students, the hat shouted the name right as it touched their head. For others, it sat for what seemed like ages. Finally, the last student was sorted into Ravenclaw and an old man stood up and began speaking.

“Now, this year at Hogwarts, we have a few new changes. I will tell you all the wonderful details of the others in a moment, but for now, I would like to introduce three foreign exchange students from America who will be attending Hogwarts.” He sat back down, and everyone began murmuring to one another immediately.

Professor McGonagall called out, “Di Angelo, Nico.”

Nico walked forward unhurriedly and sat down with the hat on his head. It didn’t take long before the hat called out, “GRYFFINDOR!” Nico took the hat off and sauntered over to the Gryffindor table where Fred and George were exchanging coins.

“Grace, Thalia,” the Professor called out.

Thalia frowned in annoyance as her name was announced to the whole school, and walked over to the stool and the hat. Unsurprisingly, a shout of “GRYFFINDOR!” came out of the hat barely five seconds after it was placed on her head. Thalia tossed the hat on the stool and walked down to the table.

“Jackson, Perseus,” McGonagall called as she rolled up her scroll.

Percy walked up to the stool, unworried. He placed the hat on his head and was startled as he heard a voice speak to him. “Ah, Mr. Jackson, the third demigod. Of course, Dumbledore requested that I place you in Gryffindor, and seeing as you aren’t actually here to learn I am happy to oblige, but he really didn’t have anything to worry about. All three of you are Gryffindor material, though that first boy had a bit of Slytherin in him. Well, no matter. Good luck, Perseus Jackson. GRYFFINDOR!”

Percy set the old hat back down on the stool before walking down to the table where Ron, Hermione, and Harry sat along with the rest of the Weasleys and the other two demigods.

“I knew you three would end up in Gryffindor!” Ron cried with excitement. “Alright, I’ll admit I was a bit worried about Nico, but you all ended up here!”

“Quiet, Ron, Dumbledore’s about to start his speech!” Hermione hissed. Ron quieted down and they all turned their attention to Dumbledore, who had stood up.

“Welcome, students, to another year at Hogwarts! I have several things to say, and seeing as one of them is quite serious, it would be best to get that one out of the way before your minds become befuddled by our excellent feast.” Dumbledore paused and gazed out at them, his twinkling eyes becoming serious behind his half-moon glasses. “As you are all probably aware after their search of Hogwarts Express, our school is presently host to some of the dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business. It is not in the nature of a dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you.”

Percy shuddered at these words. He, Thalia, and Nico had not been overly affected by the dementors, but Percy suspected that their godly blood protected them from the effects, something that he was immensely grateful for considering the horrifying memories that could have been resurfaced. All the same, he didn’t want to run into one of those creatures again if he could help it.

Dumbledore continued in his speech. “On a happier note, I am pleased to announce the arrival of three new professors this year at Hogwarts.”

_“Three? I thought that there were only two new teachers this year?”_ Percy muttered in Greek to Thalia and Nico. They shrugged, puzzled looks in their eyes.

“First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.” Dumbledore announced, eliciting some weak applause. “Secondly, I am sorry to say that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching position in addition to his gamekeeping duties.” There were slightly more cheers at this news, and Harry, Hermione, and Ron looked positively ecstatic. “Now, for the final position. I am pleased to announce that Hogwarts has adopted a new class into its curriculum; the rarely practiced art of Alchemy!”

Percy, Thalia, and Nico exchanged glances. _“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t remember anything about an Alchemy class beginning this year, do you?”_ Nico asked tensely. Percy and Thalia shook their heads, and the three investigators turned their attention back to Dumbledore.

“Unfortunately, I’m afraid that our professor-” Dumbledore was cut off from his announcement when there was a loud BANG and the Great Hall doors swung open, ‘almost as if they had been kicked,’ Percy thought, to reveal a small boy with a bright red coat. Percy didn’t have to look closer to recognize him as the boy from the train. Apparently, he had recovered sufficiently.

The boy ignored the stares and whispers of the students and marched towards the platform where Dumbledore stood. His footsteps were loud and slightly uneven as he crossed the hall and stepped onto the platform. The whispers increased as the boy walked right up to Dumbledore, bold as brass. Everyone leaned in and grew silent as he began to speak.

“Are you Headmaster Dumbledore?” Came the same accented voice that Percy remembered from the train. When Dumbledore nodded, the boy held out what looked like a letter. Dumbledore accepted the letter, and after opening and reading through it, he turned back to the students with a smile.

“I apologize for the interruption, but it was perfectly timed. As I was saying, we have introduced a new class this year at Hogwarts, and this is your professor. Allow me to introduce your Alchemy professor, Edward Elric.” Dumbledore turned and gestured towards the staff table, and Professor Elric nodded and sat down. The whispers in the Great Hall had turned into a roar.

“He’s a professor?” Ron said incredulously. “But he said he was only fifteen! that’s only two years older than us! He isn’t even of age yet!”

Hermione looked equally shocked. “I can't believe that we have an Alchemy class! Alchemy is nearly a lost art, and they’re going to be teaching it!” She sounded overjoyed at the prospect.

“I take it you’re going to be signing up for his class then?” Harry said with an amused smile.

“Of course! You five should as well. It’s a wonderful opportunity!”

“Are sure that’s the reason you’re taking the class?” Ron said with a smirk. “After all, you do seem to like blond professors, and this one’s closer to your age range.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about, Ronald.” Hermione said coolly. She turned to the three Americans. “So what about you three? Are you going to take the class?”

The three exchanged a glance, and Thalia nodded. They turned back to Hermione. “Yeah, it sounds interesting!” Thalia said with a grin.

“I think I’ll look into it as well,” Harry said. “Alchemy could be very interesting.”

“In that case, I might as well join you,” Ron said with a sigh.

The platters magically filled with food, which didn't surprise Percy that much, considering the glasses in Camp Half-Blood worked similarly. Percy glanced up at the staff table and saw that the Alchemy professor had nearly fallen out of his seat in shock. It made him curious as to whether the alchemy professor was even a wizard. He certainly didn't dress like one. Percy decided to worry about that later and turned his attention to the glorious food in front of him. 

* * *

After the wonderful feast (which, to Percy’s immense delight, consisted of at least two blue foods), they followed the Gryffindors back to their common room. Once they recovered from their unsettlement caused by the moving pictures, they were able to say the password and enter the common room. Percy thought it was quite a comfortable looking room, but Thalia dragged him and Nico over to a corner before they had time to enjoy it.

_“There definitely isn’t supposed to be an Alchemy class this year. Or any year, for that matter.”_ Thalia got straight to the point.

_“You’re right. That Edward Elric isn’t supposed to be here. And Nico said that he felt wrong…do you guys think that he’s the time jumper?”_ Percy questioned.

Nico frowned. _“I’m not sure. I guess he could be, but…well, for one thing, he’s foreign. One thing we know for sure is that the time jumper is a demigod child of Hecate. That’s the only way that they’re magic would be strong enough to jump through time. And all of Hectate’s demigod children are American. For another, he doesn’t match any description from the list of Hectate’s children that she gave us.”_

_“He could just be using a disguise and faking the accent,”_ Thalia pointed out.

_“True,”_ Nico said, _“But doubtful. It’s more likely that him being here is something that the time jumper caused. Though why the time jumper would want him here, I have no idea.”_

Percy sighed. _“Well, whether he is the time jumper or not, the fact is, we have a lead.”_

Thalia nodded. _“You’re right. And being in his class will give us plenty of time to investigate him. We’re going to learn everything we can about Edward Elric.”_


	6. You Really Put the 'Dent' in 'Student'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there are classes, and Ed is a teacher

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is definitely my longest chapter (nearly 5,000 words), and probably not all of them are going to be this long; enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek 

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

 

Harry

 

As soon as they arrived in the common room, Thalia, Percy, and Nico slipped off to the side of the room and started an intense conversation. From what little he heard, Harry could tell that they were speaking Greek.

Ron shook his head. “They’re great and all, but they act like a couple of nutters sometimes. What could they be saying that so important that they need to say it in Greek?”

“Well, they probably just don’t want anyone listening in on them,” Hermione said pointedly. “And we all know that you would try to.”

“What did Professor McGonagall want to talk to you about?” Ron asked, changing the subject.

“Nothing interesting. Just some information about my classes this year.” Hermione said breezily.

Harry could tell that she was hiding something, but Hermione was saved from further questioning when the three Americans finished their conversation and joined them by the fire.

“So, where do we sleep?” Percy asked. It seemed that the two things most often on Percy’s mind were eating and sleeping. And he did quite a bit of both. Hermione showed Thalia up to the girls’ dormitories while Harry and Ron headed up to the boys’ room with Percy and Nico. There were two extra beds in the third year boy’s room, with the names ‘Perseus’ and ‘Nico’ inscribed on the headboards. Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas, and Seamus Finnegan were already in the room, and Harry hurried to introduce the two new additions to the room.

“Why did you three decide to come to Hogwarts? What was wrong with your American school?” Dean inquired.

“There wasn’t anything wrong with it,” Nico answered. “Our school presented the option of three students attending school abroad, and we were interested.”

Dean seemed satisfied with the answer. “So, do you think you could ‘introduce’ me to your other friend?” He asked hopefully.

Nico and Percy tried to suppress their laughter. Percy failed. “Thalia doesn’t date,” Nico explained as Percy managed to quell his laughter.

“Well, maybe she just hasn’t found the right guy yet,” Dean said with determination.

Nico and Percy looked like they were about to be set off again. “I don’t think she’ll be convinced,” Percy managed.

Dean was looking annoyed now. “Oh really? Well, I’ll prove it! She’ll be warmed up to me by the end of the year, you’ll see!”

“I’ll take that bet,” Nico said with a smirk. “I put down twenty galleons that she won’t be even remotely interested in anyone at all at the end of the year.”

“You have that much?!” Ron asked in disbelief.

“Nope.”

Dean looked at him incredulously. “Are you serious? You still want to do it?”

Nico nodded. “I’ll even extend your time limit for as long as I’m here.”

Dean grinned. “Deal! Even if it isn’t me, she’ll be interested in someone eventually!”

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Harry asked Nico.

Nico smirked. “Trust me, there is no way that Thalia would ever be interested in anyone.”

He and Percy changed into their night things, for some reason being extra sure that their curtains were closed tightly before undressing. Harry shrugged. Maybe the Americans were used to more privacy or something. After the day’s excitement, Harry fell asleep quickly.

* * *

When Harry woke up the next morning, he found Nico already up and fully dressed, sitting on the edge of his bed. He threw a pillow at Ron, effectively rousing him, and they both pulled their robes and shoes on.

“We should probably wake up Percy,” Harry commented.

Ron walked over to his bed. “Oi, Percy, wake up!” He continued yelling a series of similar phrases, but Percy didn’t stir. Ron stepped back from the bed and scratched his head. “Well, I suppose we could try splashing water him.”

Nico gave him an amused smile. “I don’t think that would be very effective on him. He probably wouldn’t even notice.”

“Well, he’s going to have to get up soon or he’s going to miss breakfast-” Ron was interrupted as Percy shot up in bed.

“I’m up! Where’s the food?”

“Well, now we know how to wake up Percy,” Harry said with a grin.

Percy grinned sheepishly as he pulled on his black robes. They met Hermione and Thalia in the common room before heading down to the great hall for breakfast.

* * *

Percy, Nico, and Thalia were quite startled at the owl post, making Harry think that their school must not have anything like it. A glance up at the head table showed that Professor Elric was having a similar reaction. He had turned to Madame Pomfrey, who was seated next to him, and was waving his arms and angrily saying something about crazy owls, but with much stronger language.

Harry received his schedule along with the others and looked it over. “Looks like we have Divination first, then Transfiguration, a break for lunch, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and then Alchemy. Looks like we’re doubling with Slytherin in that one.” Harry wrinkled his nose at the prospect.

“And I was really looking forward to Alchemy!” Ron groaned.

“Come on, it can’t be that bad,” Thalia said. “You should give the Slytherins a chance, I bet most of them aren’t half as bad as you’re making them out to be.”

“Trust me, they are,” Ron said.

Thalia frowned, thoroughly unconvinced, but before she could launch into another lecture about prejudice, Dean sauntered up to her with a charming smile on his face and a determined look in his eyes.

“Hello there, I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure. Dean Thomas.” He held out his hand.

Thalia took it. “Thalia.” She said evenly, still refusing to use her last name.

“Your name is as charming as your eyes,” Dean said to her.

Thalia narrowed her eyes. “Let me stop you right there. Don’t waste your time, I don’t date.”

Dean didn’t falter one bit. “So I have been told. But I am confident that your mind will be swayed eventually! And then I expect your friend to pay his bet in full.” He looked over at Nico with the last part.

Thalia whipped around to face Nico. “Are you using me for easy money, Death Breath?!”

Nico looked up innocently. “Why Thalia, I thought you knew me better than to ask that.”

“Yeah Thalia,” Percy chimed in, “you shouldn’t have to ask to know that the answer is yes. Though you have to admit it’s a pretty clever money-making scheme.”

Thalia looked ready to murder both of them with her toast and bacon. Harry decided he should intervene before she started turning breakfast entrees into deadly weapons.

“We should head to our first class. Do you three know where you’re going?” Harry asked as he stood from the table.

Thalia stopped death-glaring at Percy and Nico. She hesitated a bit before answering, “Uh…yeah…about that…well, how to put this…we can’t exactly…read our schedules very well…” she mumbled the last part, looking embarrassed. She held out three sheets of paper. “All three of us have really bad dyslexia. Would you mind…?” She didn’t finish the sentence. Harry looked over at Nico and Percy, who were both smiling apologetically. He must have stood there a second too long because Hermione reached out and snatched the schedules from Thalia’s hand.

“Of course we’ll help you. Dyslexia isn’t something that’s your fault, after all,” she said briskly, giving Harry and Ron a look. “There are plenty of people who have that problem, it’s not like it’s a rare disease or something.” She scanned the schedules. “It looks like you have the exact same class schedule as Ron and Harry. That’s perfect, they can make sure you know where you’re going. Hogwarts Castle is an easy place to get lost in, even if you’ve lived here for a long time.” She handed back their schedules, and they thanked her profusely. “We should get going. Divination at the top of the North Tower, and it’s going to take us a while to get there.”

* * *

 

After a long trek through the castle and some directions from a slightly crazy knight, the group finally made it to the divination tower, and just in time. They joined the rest of the students as a trapdoor opened in the ceiling and a silvery ladder dropped down. The Gryffindors glanced at each other skeptically. For some reason, Thalia, Nico, and Percy looked exceptionally nervous. Nevertheless, they ascended into the attic along with everyone else.

The attic was dim, very warm, and heavily perfumed. Harry didn’t see the teacher at first; the woman was sitting in the shadows. She had on large glasses that magnified her eyes, giving her an owlish look. As everyone found a seat around various tables spread around the room, she began to speak.

“Welcome, how nice to see you at last in the physical world.” Her voice was misty and slightly detached, not holding any emotion. “Welcome to Divination. I am Professor Trelawney. Most of you most likely have not seen me before; I find that descending into the hustle and bustle of the school clouds my Inner Eye.”

Harry heard a noise to his left and looked over to see that Percy had a strange look on his face; as if he were trying not to laugh. Thalia was elbowing him to get him to shut up, but she looked like she was also holding in laughter to some extent. Professor Trelawney either hadn’t heard or didn’t care. She continued in her introductory speech.

“So, you have decided to study Divination, the most difficult out of all the magical fields. I must warn you now that if you do not possess the Sight, there is little I can teach you. Books can take you only so far in this practice.”

Hermione stiffened in her chair, alarmed. Now it was Harry and Ron who were holding back snickers.

“Many witches and wizards who are talented in the art of loud bangs, flashes, and sudden disappearing, are unable to penetrate the veil of the future. It is a gift granted to few.” Professor Trelawney had stood up and walked around the table that separated her from the students. She whirled and pointed to Neville. “You, boy, is your grandmother well?” She enquired.

“I-I think so,” Neville replied nervously.

“I wouldn’t be so sure if I were you, dear.” The professor said mysteriously, leaving Neville looking extremely worried. “We will be covering the basics of Divination this year.” Professor Trelawney continued on as if nothing had happened. “We shall begin with tea leaves, a simple method of predicting future events, and move on to palmistry next term.” She again paused in her speech and turned to Parvati Patil. “By the way, my dear, beware a red-haired man.” Parvati looked startled and edged away from Ron. “Eventually we will progress to the crystal ball; but we will be interrupted in February by a nasty bout of the flu. I myself will lose my voice. And around Easter, one of our number will leave us forever.” 

Seemingly finished in handing out dire predictions, Professor Trelawney paired them off and gave them cups of tea, instructing them to attempt to read the leaves of their partner’s cup. Harry was paired off with Ron, Hermione went with Thalia, and Percy and Nico worked together. After drinking their boiling-hot tea, Harry and Ron swapped cups and looked at each other's tea leaves. At the table next to them, Harry heard Percy complaining that it looked like nothing but ‘a soggy brown mess’ and Nico saying something about someone named Rachel. He tuned them out and turned his attention back to Ron’s cup.

“Well…” Ron began, squinting into Harry’s cup. “I think…that’s a hat…maybe? I dunno Harry, it doesn’t look like anything but bloody tea leaves to me.” Suddenly Professor Trelawney walked up behind Ron and snatched the cup from his hands.

“Hmm, let me see…ah, the falcon, you have a deadly enemy.”

“Well everyone knows that,” Hermione said, sounding annoyed. Harry looked over to where she was sitting with Thalia, looking rather flustered. Professor Trelawney turned to her with slightly raised eyebrows, her expression unchanging, and Hermione continued. “Well, they do. Everyone knows about Harry and You-Know-Who.”

Professor Trelawney turned back to the teacup and began examining it further, choosing to ignore Hermione. “The club…an attack…the skull…danger in your path…dear dear, this is not a happy cup…” Suddenly Professor Trelawney let out a loud scream and nearly dropped the cup before dropping to her chair by the fire. “My dear boy…my poor, dear boy…no, it is kinder not to say…"

Of course, that only made everyone want to know even more, especially Harry. Lavender Brown was the first to speak. “What is it, professor? Please, tell us!”

Finally, Professor Trelawney opened her eyes and dramatically stated, “My dear boy, you have the Grim.” Several people in the room gasped in horror, while the rest looked just as confused as Harry felt. “The Grim, dear, the Grim!” Trelawney said, seeing his confusion. “The giant, spectral dog that haunts graveyards! It is a sign of certain death!”

* * *

 After Professor Trelawney had cut their class short, the six wizards had headed outside before their next class. Ron was the first to speak about what had happened.

“Harry, you haven’t happened to see a big black dog around have you?” Ron asked nervously.

“Yeah, actually, I have,” Harry replied. “It was right before the Knight But picked me up.

“All of that ‘seeing the future’ nonsense is a load of rubbish,” Hermione said. “Predicting the future is mostly just guesswork, if not impossible.”

“Actually, predicting the future is possible, but only a few people can do it,” Nico informed them knowledgeably.

Hermione turned to him with a huff. “Well, now you sound just like her! How would you know that anyway?”

“Our…Divination Professor…has spoken quite a few prophecies, and all of them have come to pass.” Nico replied. “But she isn’t anything like that,” he added hastily. “I agree with you about all of what we did in there; that was completely ridiculous. I’m just saying that predicting the future is possible; but not with tea leaves and crystal balls.”

“So you’re saying I don’t have anything to worry about?” Harry asked as they began to make their way to the Transfiguration classroom.

Nico nodded. “Not that you dying isn’t a possibility, but it isn’t going to be shown by some random stray dog or some soggy tea leaves.”

Harry wasn’t sure if he felt reassured by that or not as they took their seats in Professor McGonagall’s classroom. The rest of the Gryffindors seemed disturbed as well, and no one was really paying attention as Professor McGonagall began her lecture on animagi, wizards who could transform into an animal at will. He noticed that the Percy, Nico, and Thalia were paying attention, but they didn’t seem that impressed, even when Professor McGonagall transformed into a cat right in front of them. To be fair, the rest of the class was too distracted to really give much of a response. Professor McGonagall transformed back into a human and looked at them all in disbelief.

“What has gotten into all of you? That’s the first time that my transformation hasn’t caused an immediate reaction. Someone tell me what is going on.”She said sternly.

“Well, you see, professor,” Lavender Brown began hesitantly. “We just came from Divination…”

“Oh, I see what it is now. Tell me, who is going to die this time?”

Hesitantly, Harry raised his hand.

“Professor Trelawney predicts a students death with every new class she has, and no one had died yet. It’s her way of making an impression, I suppose. I assure you that you have nothing to worry about, Mr. Potter. You are in no danger of dying, so forgive me if I still expect you to turn in your homework on time.”

Hermione shot him and Ron an I-told-you-so look, but Ron didn’t look quite like he was convinced. Professor McGonagall continued on with her lecture, most of the class now fully reassured by her words.

* * *

“Alright everyone, repeat after me: Riddikulus!” Professor Lupin had led them into the staff room and explained that they would be facing a boggart. Now, he was teaching them the charm used to defeat the creature.

“Riddikulus,” the class recited.

“Good. But, the word alone is not enough. I’m going to need a volunteer for this next part.” He looked to the class, but everyone avoided eye contact. No one stepped forward. Harry didn’t blame them; after all, who would volunteer to have their worst fear revealed? “Alright then. Neville Longbottom?”

Neville stepped forward nervously. He looked like he was stepping up to his death.

“Alright then Neville, first things first. What would you say frightens you the most?”

Neville whispered something, but it wasn’t audible. “Sorry Neville, I didn’t catch that,”Professor Lupin said kindly.

Neville took a deep breath before saying in a slightly louder whisper, “Professor Snape.”

Everyone laughed, and Neville looked down sheepishly. Professor Lupin nodded thoughtfully. “Professor Snape…hmm…Neville, you live with your grandmother, correct?”

Neville nodded. “Yes, but I don’t want the boggart to turn into her either,” he said nervously.

Professor Lupin smiled. “No no, you misunderstood me. Could you tell us what sort of clothes your grandmother wears?”

Neville looked surprised and slightly confused as he answered, “well, always the same hat; a tall one with a stuffed vulture on top. And a long dress; green, usually. And sometimes a fox-fur scarf.”

“And a handbag?” Professor Lupin queried.

“Yes, a big red one.”

“Right then, can you picture those clothes very clearly, Neville?” Professor Lupin looked very eager for whatever he was about to do.

“Yes,” Neville said, still looking unsure.

“Alright, when the boggart steps out, you step forward. It will see you and take the form of Professor Snape. You will hit it with the spell, while concentrating on your grandmother’s clothes. Got it?” When Neville nodded, Professor Lupin continued. “After that, the rest of you will take a turn. Think of what you are afraid of, and think of a way to make it comical. When I call your name, step forward and hit the boggart with the riddikulus spell.” Harry glanced around at the rest of the class. They all looked just as nervous as he was; Percy, Nico, and Thalia especially so. “Alright, is everyone ready?” 

Neville stepped forward, wand ready, with a determined expression. Professor Lupin unlatched the rattling cabinet, and Professor Snape stepped out, a malicious gleam in his eyes.

“R-r-riddikulus!” Neville managed. There was a loud bang, and then Professor Snape was stumbling around dressed in a long, lacy dress with a ridiculous looking vulture-hat on his head. The class roared with laughter, and Professor Lupin began calling students forward.

The more people that went, the more agitated Harry got. He noticed that Percy, Nico, and Thalia were looking more and more agitated; and even backing up in hopes of not being noticed. Harry didn’t know what they were afraid of, but whatever it was it must be pretty bad. He was fairly concerned himself; he wasn’t sure what he would do when it was his turn; because he was sure that the boggart would turn into a dementor.

“It’s getting confused!” Professor Lupin shouted. “Percy!”

Percy looked startled, but before he had time to react, he was pushed to the front. The boggart changed form and became a deep pit in the ground. Harry was confused at first–was Percy afraid of falling into holes? Then he noticed two things. First, the hole emanated a feeling of dread, almost like the dementors, and Harry somehow felt that the pit housed things worse than even a dementor. The second thing he noticed was the girl. She had blonde hair, grey, terrified eyes, and she was clinging to a ledge inside of the pit, about to fall off.

Percy held his wand out in front of him, but his hands were shaking, and he couldn’t seem to make himself say anything. He almost looked as if he wanted to run forward, but Thalia was holding his arm. Luckily, Professor Lupin could see the situation and stepped in front of Percy. The boggart changed into a round, silvery object. “Riddikulus!” Professor Lupin shouted, and the boggart exploded, the wisps of smoke that remained from it vanishing into the air. 

Harry looked over at Percy, who had rejoined Nico and Thalia. He looked pale, and Harry saw that Nico looked disturbed as well. Thalia asked them something in Greek, concern evident in her voice. They both nodded shakily.

“Excellent!” Professor Lupin said, taking control of the situation. “Let’s see…five points to everyone who tackled the boggart. I think that’s enough for today. For homework, please read the chapter on boggarts and summarize it for me to be handed in on Monday. That will be all.”

As soon as the class had filed out of the room, and Ron turned to Percy. “What the bloody hell was that, mate?! And who was that girl?”

Hermione hit him on the arm. “Ron! That’s a very personal question!”

“It’s alright.” Percy mumbled, looking the most subdued that Harry had ever seen. “Her name is Annabeth. She’s a…friend…of mine, from our…school.” He didn’t say anything about the pit, and Hermione was sending him and Ron a look that warned them not to ask.

“C’mon, we have Alchemy class next.” Harry changed the subject, trying to distract Percy and Nico, who were both looking depressed. “I wonder what Professor Elric is like.”

Nico looked up with an odd look in his eyes. “Yeah, I wonder.” He muttered.

They were walking towards the Alchemy classroom when suddenly Thalia turned and said, “Where’d Hermione go?” They all stopped and looked around. Sure enough, Hermione had vanished.

“She was just here not two minutes ago!” Ron exclaimed. “Where could she have gone?!”

Suddenly Hermione rounded the corner breathlessly. “Sorry, I, er, dropped a book back around the last corner.”

“You could have told us, we would have waited for you,” Percy said. Hermione only shrugged in response, and the six wizards continued walking.

Everyone entered the classroom and found seats, Harry and Ron sharing a desk, Hermione with Thalia, and Percy and Nico together. The exchanged unsure glances. They hadn’t been given any textbooks, and they weren’t what this class would require. Their questions were answered as Professor Elric turned to them and began speaking.

“Before any of you ask me any questions, I will say; no, I am not a wizard and do not do any of your hocus pocus nonsense, yes, I am fifteen and YES, I am in the military and therefore qualified to teach this class.” 

Professor Elric’s golden eyes were flashing dangerously, and Harry got the feeling that he had been asked those questions in all of his previous classes, and that he was sick of them. 

“Don’t bother taking out you magic-sticks, you won’t be needing them.” Professor Elric continued. “Now, how many of you have taken chemistry?”

Percy was the only ones to raise his hand. Harry knew what chemistry was, being raised by muggles; but chemistry wasn’t something that was taught to ten-year-olds, so even muggle-borns wouldn’t have taken the class. Harry vaguely wondered why Percy had taken chemistry. Professor Elric looked surprised that even one person had raised their hand.

“Alright, how many of you know what the periodic table is?” He asked hopefully. A few more hands were raised, including Harry, Hermione, Nico, and Thalia. Professor Elric nodded approvingly. “This class will be easiest for you,” he said, nodding to Percy. “I know that you ‘wizards’ think that ‘muddle’ sciences–or whatever you call us–are useless because you have magic. Well, if you want to learn magic, you’re going to have to learn quite a bit of science.”

He glared at them all, daring them to question him. Harry could hear Draco Malfoy scoffing from the Slytherin side of the room. Professor Elric turned towards him, eyes sparking.

“Is there a problem?” He asked, his tone dangerous.

“Well, sir,” Malfoy sneered, “not only are you only two years older than us, you’re also a muggle. No offense, but how much are you really going to be able to teach us?” It was easy to see through Malfoy’s mock politeness; his real message was clear: ‘You’re too young, a filthy muggle, and I despise you.’

“Well, if you don’t think I can teach you, then you can leave. You may have to leave regardless, depending on your level of intelligence.” Professor Elric growled before turning away and continuing. “For anyone to be allowed to progress in this class, you must first find the answer to this statement: ‘one is all, all is one.’ Tell me what this means, and you may begin learning alchemy. If you can’t find the answer in one month…” Professor Elric paused and smirked slightly. “Then you will be removed from the class.”

Harry’s eyes widened, and the rest of the class looked startled; and started whispering immediately. Malfoy looked angry; but also determined. It was clear that he didn’t want to let a muggle get the best of him, and that he was planning on answering the riddle no matter what it took.

“Quiet!” Professor Elric barked. “At the end of the month, you get one guess at the answer. One, and no more. And no complaining; you have it much easier than I did. You have access to a whole library, not to mention food. Now, does anyone have any questions that concern the class?”

Hermione’s hand shot up into the air. “Yes, miss…?”

“Hermione Granger, sir.”

“What is your question, Ms. Granger?”

“Sir, could you show us what exactly alchemy is? Everything that I have read about it said that it was used to change metal into gold, and to create the elixir of life and the philosophers stone.”

At the mention of the philosopher’s stone, something flashed across the professor’s eyes, but Harry wasn’t sure what it was. Professor Elric stepped up to his desk. He clapped his hands together in front of his chest, producing a ringing sound, then placed his hands on his desk. Blue lightning sparked around his hands, and slowly a statue rose up out of the wood. There was a chorus of gasps as the light faded, revealing a miniature statue of a suit of armour standing in a small crater that was now formed in the desk.

“This is alchemy,” Professor Elric said. “Alchemy is not used to turn other metals into gold because that would ruin the economy, and it is certainly not used to make a potion for eternal life. Alchemy is the science of understanding, deconstructing, and reconstructing matter. In order to gain something, something of equal value must be given. This is the law of equivalent exchange. Alchemists live by this law, and it is the core of every transmutation. Your ‘magic’ completely ignores this law, so it will be harder for you to understand. But you must not forget this law; because if you do, you will end up badly hurt. Trust me, I speak from experience.”

The classroom was dead silent. Professor Elric clapped his hands together again and touched the wood, and the statue disappeared back into the desk. Professor Elric walked over to the chalkboard; where he had written a chart filled with different letters and numbers; and began explaining the periodic table. Harry quickly pulled out paper and a quill and ink to take notes. He could already tell that this was going to be a very hard, but very interesting class.


	7. You Really Put the ‘Chief' in 'Mischief'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ed decides that his situation sucks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek 

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

 

** Edward **

 

Ed had only taught four classes, and he was already completely fed up with all of his ‘wizard’ students. Every class was the same. They all wanted to know how old he was; if he could really teach them alchemy; and, most importantly, whether or not he was a wizard. Upon finding out that he was fifteen and not a wizard, Ed found that each class had different reactions, sometimes the class being divided into two.

Some of them obviously held a sense of superiority and looked down their noses at him. Others seemed surprised; but excited. Some looked doubtful, but willing to try, and some just smiled and accepted him. He noticed that the color of their clothing seemed to correlate to what their response was.

Ed groaned. He had just finished teaching a class of Gryffindor/Slytherin third-years, and had one more class for the day; Gryffindor fifth-years; but he had a free period in-between them. He had been putting off going to the hospital wing all day, but he knew that if he didn’t go before dinner then Madame Pomfrey would drag him there by force. She had been shooting him pointed looks throughout all lunch.

Ed was a bit reluctant to leave his classroom. In here, he was safe from all of the crazy magic that was abundant throughout Hogwarts. He was still coping with the fact that he would have to use an _owl_ of all things to send any letters to Al. He also knew that it was only a matter of time before the more bold students starting pranking him with whatever their magic could do. As soon as everyone learned that he couldn’t perform magic, they would be sure to take advantage of the fact. The fact that he was the same age or younger than plenty of them wouldn’t help matters.

Ed sighed as he left his classroom and began walking towards the hospital wing. Teaching these kids was going to be hard. Most of them had grown up being able to use magic for every need. The ones who were ‘muggle-born’ would learn the easiest; especially that one Gryffindor third-year who had taken chemistry. Ed wondered about him; he was the only student out of all of his classes to have taken chemistry. Ed hoped that he was able to answer the riddle.

Thinking about the riddle he had given caused Ed to cheer up slightly. _‘Half of them probably won’t be able to figure it out, so my classes will be cut down at the end of the month.’_ Ed was interrupted from is speculating when he arrived at the hospital wing. He had barely stepped inside when Madame Pomfrey whisked him over to a bed and began asking a series of rapid-fire questions.

“How are you feeling? Are you limbs hurting? I can provide you with a climate-control spell if you’d like. Do you have a headache? Here, eat some more chocolate.” The whole time she was waving her wand around him, presumably checking for any issues.

Ed blinked, trying to keep up with her. “I don’t know if using magic on my automail would be the best idea,” he said warily. To be completely honest, he didn’t fully trust magic, and he knew that Winry would kill him if he messed up his automail with magic of all things.

Madame Pomfrey frowned. “Well, if it gets to be hurting too bad, then you come and tell me right away and I’ll give you something for the pain, at least. Are you sure that your arm and leg are okay? I haven’t ever seen anything like that.”

Ed nodded. “They’re fine. I doubt that they will be a problem.” He stood from the bed. “I should probably be going now, I have another class to teach. I’ll come back if I have any problems, I promise!” He added as she opened her mouth to say something else. He hurried out of the room and headed back toward his own classroom. ‘Just one more class, then I’m free.’He reassured himself. ‘Just one more class. I can do that. I’ve made it through four already, one more won’t be a problem.’

* * *

One more _was_ a problem. The class started off fine–well, as fine as all of the others–and Ed was in the middle of his explanation of the periodic table; when he noticed something about the students. He heard a lot of whispering; and some occasional snickers. He whirled around to see what they were doing.

**“What?!”** He snapped. There was another round of muffled laughter. Then one of the students, a red-headed boy who was sitting next to an exact copy of him, said something. It was then that Ed realized that he couldn’t understand what they were saying. His eyes widened in realization. 

_‘Damn! I forgot about the translation spell!’_ He had completely forgotten about Professor Lupin waving his wand and allowing him to speak and understand English.

Seeing his expression, they were set off into another round of badly concealed smirks and laughter. The two red-haired twins started calling out phrases, and pretty soon the whole class was roaring with laughter. Ed was growing increasingly angry; mostly because he had a feeling that quite a few of those comments related to his height.

**“HEY! QUIET!”** He shouted. Of course, that didn’t help matters at all. Even if they did know what he was saying, they obviously would pretend not to. Ed couldn’t control them at all, and it was making him mad. Very mad. 

The twins seemed to be aware of his dangerous mood; because they quieted down, and the rest of the class soon followed, but they were all still smirking away. Ed didn’t say anything, he just pointed at the door. The class gathered their things and filed out of the classroom, still grinning away. One of the twins cheerfully said one last thing before Ed slammed the door in his face.

Ed groaned. To make matters worse, now he was going to have to go to one of the teachers to get his translation spell renewed, and they were probably all still teaching. He headed for the door. Surely they couldn’t all be in a class. There had to be at least one who was free. He had barely taken two steps out of his classroom when suddenly he felt something hit his eyes and found, to his horror, that he couldn’t see anything. Hearing giggling and retreating footsteps to his left, Ed whirled in that direction.

**“Hey! Get back here right now, damn it!”** Of course, whoever it was didn’t listen. 

Ed took a step forward and immediately tripped over what seemed to be a large box, probably left by the culprit to prevent pursuit. Ed cursed his luck. It hadn’t even been one full day, and he was already being pranked. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Ed admired the strategy of the prank. 

  1. He wouldn’t be able to see anyone retreating because the essence of the prank was that he was blinded.
  2. He couldn’t do anything to remove whatever charm had been cast because of his lack of magic. 
  3. All of the classes would let out soon, meaning the halls would be flooded with students just in time to see him stumbling around like an idiot, cursing in a language that no one understood.



Overall, a well thought out plan. Had it been performed on anyone else, he would have been impressed. Seeing as it was him who was the subject of humiliation, he was only annoyed. And angry. Very angry. He didn’t want to take another step for fear of tripping again, but he also didn’t want to be standing frozen in the middle of the hall when the classes let out. 

One good thing about this situation; he could let loose as many curse words as he wanted because no one would know what he was saying. And that is exactly what he did; while feeling his way towards the wall so he could have something to guide him. He was about to start walking when a sudden realization made him freeze, then let loose in another torrent of Amestrian curses, with a few Xingese ones thrown in for good measure.

He had completely forgotten about the moving staircases, along with all the other death traps that the damn castle had to offer. He couldn’t walk around blindly without a high risk of death or maiming. Ed growled in frustration. He was considering trying to walk anyway when he heard a voice that seemed to be coming from–above him? He wasn’t sure what the voice was saying, but considering its tone Ed figured that it was probably something about his height.

He whipped his head around, trying to figure out where the hell the voice was coming from, but it was moving all over the place. He felt something jerk on his braid, and he whirled around, hands up, but only heard mocking laughter. He heard several voices approaching from the opposite end of the hall, and he wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or annoyed. After all, these new arrivals might just make matters worse. 

He heard an exclamation of surprise, followed by someone speaking in an authoritative tone. To his relief, he recognized the voice of the brown-haired Gryffindor from his third-year class. She had seemed like a smart girl, so maybe she knew the counter to whatever spell had been used on him. He tried to pay attention to what they were saying, though he had no idea what any of it meant; then he realized that they were asking him something.

**“I can’t understand you,”** he growled in frustration. He heard an ‘Oh!’ Of understanding from the brunette, followed by the swish of a wand and some nonsense phrase.

“There, is that better, Professor Elric?” He heard. “Just nod your head if it worked.” When Ed nodded, she sighed with relief. “Oh thank goodness. I only know the basics of translation spells, so I was only able to perform it one way. At least you can understand what we’re saying now. Sorry about Peeves, by the way.”

“How do you even know the basics, Hermione?” He heard one of the boys ask incredulously.

“Well, I picked up a book from the library for some-”

“Let me guess, ‘some light reading’?” Came the second voice sarcastically.

**“Yeah yeah, whatever,”** Ed said impatiently. **“Can you fix my eyes?”** He gestured to his eyes so she would understand. He wanted to ask who the hell Peeves was, but he had more pressing issues as of now.

“Oh, you must have gotten hit by a temporary blinding charm. Actually, blinding charms are a bit trickier. See, if I perform the counter-spell for the wrong one, I could end up damaging your eyes. It probably wouldn’t be anything too permanent, but-”

**“Whoah whoah whoah, stop! Don’t try anything!”** Ed held up his hands in front of him to shield away any eye-harming spells, hoping that she got the message.

“Alright, I won’t do anything. But we’d better take you to Madame Pomfrey, I’m sure she’ll know what to do.”

“I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t want anyone firing potentially blinding spells into my eyes either,” another of the boys said.

“Alright, how should we do this…someone’s got to guide him, I suppose, so he doesn’t hit anything dangerous-” Hermione was cut off by one of the boys.

“I suppose you want that job, right Hermione?”

Ed heard a thwack followed by a lofty, “I don’t know you’re talking about, Ronald. Now, Percy and Nico, you each take one of his arms, and we’ll go to the hospital wing. Make sure to tell him where the false steps are.”

Ed heard an ‘Ok’ from a new voice, followed by a less-than-enthusiastic grunt from the second boy. _‘Uh-oh.’_ Any second now one of them was going to take his right arm, and Ed was willing to bet that they would notice that it wasn’t normal. After all, it isn’t easy to miss the feeling of a metal arm. But before he could protest, he felt the two boys grab hold of his arms.

He immediately felt the boy on the right stiffen slightly; and felt him apply more pressure to his arm; as if to assure himself of what he was feeling. Ed waited, but the boy didn’t say anything. Ed was grateful for that at least. Then Hermione was taking charge and directing them all to the hospital wing.

It was an interesting journey, filled with many ‘accidental’ stumbles, quite a few being caused by his two guides; who obviously didn’t know their way around very well (or they were running him into walls on purpose, as Ed theorized); several ‘accidental’ kicks being shared between Ed and his two guides, and a plethora of curses from Ed. They passed plenty of students along the way, most of which snickered as they passed. Ed knew that the story would be passed around the whole school by dinner.

Finally, mercifully, they reached the hospital wing. He heard Madame Pomfrey cry out in dismay “What have you done now?!” But then she began scolding and asking questions at a gradually increasing rate until Hermione’s weak translation spell couldn’t keep up, and eventually, the only thing Ed received was a garbled mix of understandable words.

He felt a cooling sensation on his eyes, blinked a few times, and found that his sight had returned. “There we are, that should do it,” Madame Pomfrey announced in satisfaction. Ed looked around, relishing his recovered sight, and saw that there were six young wizards in the room, presumably the ones who had helped him. He recognized all of them from his alchemy class; one of them was the one who had taken chemistry.

With a start, Ed realized that he looked an awful lot like the boy he was standing next to. They had the same messy black hair, green eyes, and small frame; though one was more scrawny while the other Ed guessed to be more muscular. Other than that, the only difference was that the scrawny boy had an odd scar on his forehead. One of the six, a deathly pale boy with starkly contrasting black hair, was looking at Ed with a strange look in his eyes, and Ed guessed that he was the one who had held his right arm.

Madame Pomfrey turned to the students. “One of you needs to go find a teacher to perform the translation spell.” She said.

“We’ll do it!” The pale boy volunteered. Grabbing the black haired girl and scarless boy, he practically dragged them to the door. “C’mon, we need to practice finding our way around without help.”

From the look in his eyes, Ed guessed that the real reason he had grabbed them was far different. _‘Great,’_ He thought. _‘It’s not like my automail is a huge secret, but I don’t want everyone knowing about it either. It would lead to way too many unwanted questions; that’s the real problem. Not to mention these wizards don’t seem to be familiar with automail, and they would probably freak out. I definitely don’t need to add ‘missing half of his limbs’ to the list of everything weird about me. It’s better if no one knows.’_

Ed was interrupted from his speculations when the three black-haired students returned, with McGonagall in tow.

“Mission accomplished!” The scarless boy announced triumphantly. “One professor, as requested” He stepped to the side and bowed slightly, flourishing his hand in McGonagall’s direction.

McGonagall stepped past him, unimpressed. “I do apologize for the trouble, Mr. Elric,” she said. “I’m sure that not having magic is going to be very troublesome, and I am not pleased to say that some of our students will indeed take advantage of that.” She waved her wand at him, then placed it back in her robes before turning to the six wizards. “Thank you for notifying me. I will be going now; I have another class to teach.” She gave a slight smile and nod to Madame Pomfrey before sweeping out of the room.

Ed turned to his helpers. “Thank you for your assistance,” he said. “If you need help with anything, let me know and I’ll do what I can to repay you.”

“Equivalent exchange?” The scarless boy asked with a slight smirk.

Ed gave him a smirk of his own. “Correct. I see you were paying attention in class.”

“So would it be equivalent for you to give us a hint about the riddle?” The boy asked slyly.

Ed grinned inwardly. This kid was catching on quick. He liked it. “I’ve already given you more advantages than I had. Help me with one more thing and I will tell you something.”

The red-headed boy stepped forward eagerly. “What do you need?”

“Well first of all, I need your names. I am your teacher after all.” He frowned at the red-head. “Do you have twin brothers?” He asked suspiciously.

He nodded. “Fred and George. They’re fifth years."

“I knew it!” Ed muttered. As the six hurried to introduce themselves. He filed their names away in his memory; Ron Weasley, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo, and Thalia–no last name given. “Now, If I provide you with an Amestrian dictionary, would you be able to translate it with…magic…and make an English-Amestrian dictionary?”

Hermione nodded hesitantly. “I think I would, though it might take a few days.”

Ed nodded. “I’ll get it to you within the week.” He headed out the door. Before stepping into the hallway, he looked back over his shoulder and said, “here is your hint. Transmutation circles. That is all.” Ed strode down the hallway in the direction of his office.

* * *

That evening in his sleeping quarters, Ed finished a letter to Al. In it his brother (in code; he didn’t know who could be reading his mail) of all the crazy and unbelievable things that the magical world displayed, and about his classes. He had also requested that Al send him the largest dictionary he could find, as well as a picture of home to be used as an entrance. He was already getting fed up with Peacock Lady’s snide remarks whenever he entered or exited.

Now that he thought about it, he wasn’t sure what Al would send him. He’d said ‘send me a nice picture of home’ but what would ‘home’ be? Resembol, maybe? They hadn’t lived there in years, so did it still qualify as home? Would he send him one of the pictures of them as kids? Ed lay in bed wondering about all the possibilities until he eventually drifted off to sleep.


	8. You Really Put the ‘Cover' in 'Discover'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which riddles are solved, and more questions are raised

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek 

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

 

** Percy **

 

Nico practically dragged Percy and Thalia out of the infirmary. They were barely a few steps away before Nico yanked them into a small alcove in the wall.

“There is definitely something up with him!” Nico hissed.

“Uh…what?” Percy asked, confused.

Thalia rolled her eyes. “He’s talking about Professor Elric, Seaweed Brain. We already know about your ‘weird feeling’ Nico, did you find out what it meant?”

Nico looked uneasy. “No, not yet. But when I grabbed his arm…” Nico hesitated. “It was _metal._ ”

Percy and Thalia stared at him in disbelief, before Percy spoke. “ _Metal?_ Are you sure? He couldn’t have been, I dunno, really tense or something?”

Nico shook his head. “I’m sure. It was metal.”

“But that’s not possible, is it?” Thalia asked. “I mean, his arm moves exactly like a normal one. I don’t even know if even Hephaestus has made anything like that. And even if he did, why would he give it to a mortal? Unless he’s a demigod…but even then…it just doesn’t make any sense.” Thalia shook her head, perplexed.

“I know, but I’m sure about it.” Nico said, determined.

Percy glanced up. “Oh, here comes Professor McGonagall! Perfect!” The three demigods jumped out of their alcove and faced the professor.

“Professor McGonagall, ma’am!” Percy called.

The Transfiguration teacher stopped and looked at them. “Mr. Jackson, Mr. Di Angelo, and Ms. Grace. How may I help you?”

“Well, it isn’t us that need help,” Percy began. “Professor Elric got hit with a blinding charm or something, so we had to help him get to the hospital wing. And his translation spell had worn off, and Hermione was only able to cast a spell so that he could understand us, so we need you to fix that.” Percy said in a rush.

Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows ever so slightly. “Well, that is indeed a problem. Thank you for informing me.” She marched off in the direction of the hospital wing

Percy, Nico, and Thalia exchanged a look. _“We’ll look into this more as soon as we have the chance,”_ Thalia said firmly. The other two nodded, and they hurried to catch up with the surprisingly speedy professor.

~o~O~o~

A few days later, in the library, the six young wizards were discussing the young professor’s cryptic ‘clue.’

“Transmutation…circles…” Ron said slowly; as if analyzing each word. “Circles…of transmutation…” He furrowed his brow. “I don’t see how this is supposed to help us!”

“It’s obviously some sort of clue, Ron, or he wouldn’t have said it.” Hermione said, barely looking up from the book she was intensely studying.

“What’s that book for, Hermione?” Harry asked.

“I’m searching for anything on transmutation, specifically in relation to circles. We have less than one month now to figure this out, and we only have one guess, meaning we have to get it right on the first try.” She gave each of them a sharp look. “You five should be researching! Don’t you want to progress in this class? Especially you, Percy, Professor Elric said that you would learn alchemy the easiest!”

“Yeah, what was that about, mate?” Ron questioned. “Do you have any ideas about the riddle?”

Percy shook his head. Honestly, he didn’t know why Professor Elric had said that he would have it easiest-except that is somehow related to him having taken a Chemistry class. Other than that, he was clueless. He certainly didn’t know if it would help him with the riddle. That riddle…it felt familiar, somehow…as if he had heard something like it before. Maybe when he was younger, before Camp Half-Blood. He tried to think, but he couldn’t remember. It was starting to annoy him.

Ron sighed forlornly. “Well Hermione, you better figure it out then, otherwise we’re all doomed.”

Hermione’s head shot up. “You ought to be figuring it out yourself! You shouldn’t rely on me to solve it for you!”

“Well, Professor Elric never said that we couldn’t have help, right?” Ron smirked. “I don’t see anything wrong with it.”

Thalia quirked an eyebrow at Hermione. “Is he always like this?”

“Both of them are insufferable sometimes!” Hermione hissed through clenched teach.

Suddenly, Percy leaped to his feet. “Of course! The Lion King!” He grinned at them all as if he’d just unlocked the secrets of the universe. They stared back, confused.

“Uh…what?” Harry said, speaking for all of them.

Percy was still grinning. “I figured it out.”

“You did?! Hermione exclaimed, shocked. “How did you do it?!”

Percy’s grin turned into a smirk. “Well, I would love to help you all, but like you said, Hermione; everyone should figure it out for themselves.”

Hermione’s pressed her lips together. “Yes, of course.” She said stiffly as she went back to her book.

“Oh come on mate, at least give us a hint?” Ron begged.

Percy shook his head, enjoying that he was the one with desirable knowledge. “Oh no Ron,” he said with a serious face. “I wouldn’t want to prohibit your learning.”

Ron scowled and muttered something under his breath. Percy didn’t hear what he said, which was probably a good thing. Whatever he had said probably wasn’t anything flattering.

~o~O~o~

The days of September flew by quickly, and the trio of investigators weren’t any closer to unraveling the mystery that was Edward Elric. His classes consisted of him drilling the periodic table into their heads, which the students did not seem to appreciate; Draco Malfoy in particular. Nevertheless, Malfoy seemed oddly determined concerning the Alchemy class. Percy figured that he didn’t want to be bested by a muggle only three years older than him.

Hermione threw herself into her work, absolutely determined to solve the riddle. The fact that Percy had solved it before her seemed to have added on to that determination. Thalia and Nico puzzled over the riddle with perhaps even more drive than Hermione, though they had an ulterior motive for wanting to pass the test. Ron and Harry…well, they said that they were working on it, but Percy had his doubts. He had noticed that the two Gryffindors were quite the procrastinators.

“Well, even if we don’t get it, at least you’ll be in the class.” Nico said mournfully to Percy.

“Shut up, Death Breath! We’re going to solve this stupid riddle!” Thalia said angrily.

They were sitting in the common room around the fire. Ron and Harry scrambling to finish homework while Thalia, Nico, and Hermione were attempting, yet again, to solve the riddle.

“I almost have it…” Thalia muttered. “It reminds me of something from–” She stopped herself abruptly before she said anything that would seem out of place. “One is all, all is one…and something about circles…” Thalia stared into the fire, watching the wood slowly burn away into ash. Suddenly, a light of realization came over her face. “Of course…why didn’t I see it before…” She breathed.

“Oh don’t tell me you got it too!” Nico groaned.

Hermione’s head jerked up from her book. “Really? You have? But you haven’t even studied anything!”

Thalia grinned. “I know. I don’t think you’re going to be able to find the answer by studying, Hermione. Maybe you should try…going outside.”

Hermione looked scandalized. “Don’t be ridiculous, there has to be something in the library!”

“Well, I _am_ the one who figured it out, aren’t I?” Thalia said smugly. “You should be taking my advice.”

“She does have a point, Hermione,” Harry said.

“Yeah! I told you we wouldn’t have to study for this!” Ron cried jubilantly.

“That doesn’t mean that you should stop trying altogether,” Thalia said.

“Yeah yeah, I get it.” Ron frowned, bending over his parchment again. “By the way, Hermione, where did your cat run off to? I don’t want him attacking Scabbers again.”

Hermione looked annoyed. “It’s instinct, Ron! It’s not his fault!”

Percy ignored their arguing, which had become almost routine by now. He focused on Nico, who had an intense expression on his face. Percy could see that the pieces were starting to come together in his mind. After all, he was the son of Hades, lord of the Underworld, king of the dead. And death had a key part in the riddle. Thalia’s almost-comment about the hunt had probably helped as well. Percy wasn’t worried about whether or not Nico would figure it out. Hermione, Ron, and Harry, on the other hand…he wasn’t so sure about them.

“…telling you, that cat has got it in for Scabbers! It’s not natural, no matter how much you say it is!” Percy turned his attention back to the argument, which was growing quite heated.

“Calm down you two,” he said. “After all, nothing bad has happened to Scabbers yet, right Ron?”

“ _Yet,_ ” Ron grumbled. Hermione huffed and went back to her book.

Percy glanced back at Nico, who now had a slight smile on his face. He hadn’t said anything, but Percy was willing to bet that he had solved the riddle. It hadn’t helped their investigation a single bit, but at least now they would continue to have once-a-week opportunities to observe the strange professor. He was interrupted from his musings when Fred and George walked up to their spot by the fire.

“We heard you were having trouble with the riddle, my dear brother.” Fred or George said.

“Oh don’t tell me you’ve figured it out too?!” Ron burst out, looking thoroughly annoyed.

Fred and George grinned. “Well, it was just a matter of-”

“-looking at it the right way, and of course-”

“-our frequent excursions outside have helped us immensely.” They finished.

“See, Hermione?” Said Ron with a nod. “Go outside.” He turned back to his brothers. “Is that all you’re going to tell us? Can’t you give us more of a hint? C’mon, you are my brothers, after all!”

Fred and George’s smiles didn’t waver. “Ah, my dear brother, we wouldn’t dream-”

“-of keeping you from this wonderful learning experience!”

Percy was still getting used to how the twins spoke, finishing each other’s sentences as if they had the same mind. If he closed his eyes, it was as if there was only one of them. He shook his head. Only Fred, or only George? That would be ridiculous! Percy shook his head as he headed up to the boys’ dormitory.

~o~O~o~

The weeks slipped by quickly as Percy and the others fell into a routine. It was one of the first times that Percy had actually attended a school where he had friends, he wasn’t causing problems everywhere, and the teachers actually seemed to tolerate him. His grades were the same, but at least the same could be said for Nico and Thalia. Their dyslexia made anything that involved reading a challenge. Not to mention their ADHD made it twice as hard to focus and twice as easy to forget things.

History of Magic was a lost cause; they had stopped trying in that class after the first homework assignment. Transfiguration was very hands-on, as well as charms, so those classes weren’t quite as difficult. Astronomy was easy for Thalia, and Nico and Percy didn’t have to much trouble. Divination was laughable, though the demigods suspected that the professor could be a descendant of Apollo. She had made a few ‘correct predictions’ here and there, not to mention that one of her ancestors was a famous seer.

Potions class wasn’t going too great either. Professor Snape was obviously biased against Gryffindors, which made the class harder than it already would have been. Not only that, but all of the instructions for creating the potions were written on the blackboard at the front of the room. With people standing, sitting, and moving around in front of the already-hard-to-read words, reading the directions proved to be impossible.

Thalia grumbled that Percy ought to have an advantage considering his connection to liquids. Percy had replied ‘these magical ingredients are like the worst possible thing to go in the ocean, they feel all wrong.’ Thalia had left him alone after that, which Percy was immensely grateful for. Truth be told, he wasn’t sure if he could create a perfect potion with his powers. He didn’t want to try controlling anything that wasn’t water ever again. It brought back bad memories. _‘Some things aren’t meant to be controlled.’_ Percy pushed the thought away.

Alchemy class was immensely boring. For Percy, it was like repeating the torture of high-school Chemistry; with extra things thrown in here and there. Things like ‘equivalent exchange’ and ‘the three steps of alchemy’ (understanding, deconstruction, reconstruction). The young professor drilled these into their heads over and over again. Percy only hoped that the class proved to more interesting after the month was over.

Hermione had reluctantly ventured outside as the month drew to a close. Percy believed that she was actually worried about whether or not she would be able to answer the riddle. Percy could tell that she was getting closer. The young witch was very intelligent, and Percy believed she would have a breakthrough soon. Either that or a mental breakdown, whichever came first.

Harry had entered the common room one night after Quidditch practice with an odd smile on his face and declared that he was an idiot for not seeing it before. Ron was now attacking the riddle with a determination that Percy hadn’t thought he possessed. Though being the only one (excluding Hermione) who was left out would give one quite the motivation. With only one week remaining in September, the two were growing desperate.

As far as the investigation went, the one thing that they had been able to figure out was that Edward Elric was very smart. He was studying the dictionary that Hermione supplied him with almost whenever they saw him. Percy figured he would have the language down by the end of the year at least, maybe even sooner.

Other than that, their investigation had come to a standstill. They had tried what seemed like everything. They’d had Nico tail him for an entire day, but all he ever did was stay in the library with stacks of books, sometimes forgetting to leave to eat or sleep. 

Nico had discovered that his password for his room was ‘alphonse’ but none of them knew what that meant. They couldn’t look for it in the dictionary, so, for the time being, they assumed it was a name. It couldn’t be a foreign word because the translation spell would have translated it. 

The trio had discussed entering his quarters now that they knew his password, but they were hesitant to do so, not wanting to be caught so early in their quest. They had finally agreed that if nothing else turned up by the beginning of October, they would try it, which gave them plenty of time to plan. Now the day was drawing near. Soon they would know a great deal more about the mysterious alchemist. For some reason, Percy felt that they were going to regret their decision.


	9. You Really Put the 'Demon' in 'Demonstrate'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which students are (almost) injured

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

 

**Harry**

 

“You mean you’ve _never_ played quidditch before? _Ever_?” Ron stared in disbelief at Percy, Nico, and Thalia. “Why not?!”

“I told you, our school doesn’t really do sports,” Percy answered with obvious discomfort.

“What kind of monstrous school doesn’t have quidditch?!” Ron didn’t seem to be able to imagine that possibility.

Harry was surprised too. After all, quidditch was amazing! Why would any school, no matter how small, not have it?

“Well, in that case, you need to come down to the quidditch pitch with us! I’m sure we can find some spare brooms for you to use!” Harry stated eagerly.

At the mention of brooms, the three wizards seemed to pale.

“Uh…no thanks,” Thalia said nervously.

“Yeah, we, uh, don’t really do well with heights,” Nico added as Percy nodded in agreement.

“All three of you?” Hermione asked, surprised.

“Yeah…we…have a lot in common,” Percy mumbled.

“I’ll say!” Ron said, still looking shocked. “You all have bad dyslexia, you’re all scared of heights, you all speak Greek for whatever reason, you even look alike! If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were related somehow! Are you sure you aren’t at least distant cousins or something?”

The trio smiled in amusement and shook their heads, but Harry didn’t miss the knowing glance that they shared first. He was really starting to wonder about those three. They were almost as much of a mystery as the new alchemy professor.

“Well, if you don’t like quidditch, then what about chess?” Ron asked hopefully, his face falling when the three shook their heads. “Well, then I’ll teach you,” he said with determination. “You’d better not be afraid of chess pieces or something.”

“Ron!” Hermione scolded.

“With them, anything is possible,” Ron retorted. “You should know that by now Hermione.” He hurried up to the dorm room and came back with a chess set. “Alright, the rules are simple,” he said as he set the pieces on the board. “The goal is to put the king in checkmate.” Ron launched into an explanation of chess rules, as Percy closely examined the moving chess pieces.

“I guess I’ll try first.” Percy sat across from Ron. “I might as well try. Maybe Annabeth will be happy if I learn a smart game.”

“Who’s Annabeth?” Hermione inquired. “Is she a friend from your old school?”

“Yeah…a friend…that’s right,” Percy said, though Harry noted sadness in his voice.

_‘That’s not really surprising, I’m sure he misses his friends from whatever school they went to. I wonder what that school was like–no quidditch, probably not even many magical things given the way they’ve reacted to everything here. But that doesn’t make sense. What kind of magic school doesn’t have magic in the school? And is that were they learned Greek? The speak it so well…I guess there’s loads we don’t know about them. I’ll have to make sure we get around to talking about it eventually.’_

“Check!” Ron cried.

Percy groaned. “I’m not very good at this. How am I supposed to get out of that?!” His pieces immediately began chiming in with advice.

“Sacrifice the pawn! He’s useless right now! You can get rid of him, we don’t need him anyways!” One of Percy’s knights yelled up at Percy in his squeaky voice.

Percy stared at the piece in disbelief. “Wow, you aren’t much like a real knight at all. Aren’t you guys supposed to be all ‘one for all and all for one?’ What’s up with that?”

Ron suddenly froze. “Wh-what was that Percy?” He asked, his eyes wide.

Percy looked confused. “Uh…one for all and all for one?”

Ron slowly stood up. “One for all…” he muttered. “All for one…one soldier…all of an army…” His eyes widened even more. “OF COURSE!” He shouted jubilantly.

“Ron! Don’t be so loud, you’ll wake Crookshanks!” Hermione scolded.

Ron was grinning too widely to be annoyed. “I’ve figured it out! I actually did it! I can’t believe it! I thought I was a goner for sure!”

Hermione froze. Slowly she lifted her head from her book. Her eyes narrowed. Then she spoke in a low, rather dangerous voice. “ _What?_ ”

Ron didn’t seem to notice her mood, he was too caught up in his realization. “The riddle! Professor Elric’s riddle! The one that even _you_ couldn’t figure out, Hermione!”

Harry’s eyes widened, and he saw Thalia wince. That was the wrong thing to say.

“Excuse me?!” Hermione’s voice was slightly higher pitched than normal.

“Looks like I am smarter than you in at least one thing, Hermione!” Ron said happily.

Hermione looked as if she were about to explode. Harry didn’t blame her. She had until the day after tomorrow to solve the riddle, and she hadn’t been making progress as far as Harry could tell. Not only that, but Hermione had been heavily burdened with all of her work. She seemed to have twice as much homework as the rest of them, not to mention her research for Buckbeak’s trial. Harry scowled inwardly at the memory of Malfoy’s smug face.

All that aside, he knew that Hermione must be irked that she was the only one who hadn’t solved the riddle. Ron’s obliviously delighted remarks were definitely not helping the situation. Harry stood up and slipped up to the dorm room, hoping to escape before Hermione went completely crazy on him too. He wanted Hermione to solve the riddle. Not just so she could continue in the class, but also because he was beginning to get genuinely concerned for her mental health.

~o~O~o~

As it turned out, Harry didn’t have to worry. The day of Alchemy class, Hermione triumphantly announced her success, a look of pure and utter relief in her eyes. Harry was immensely glad. There was no telling how she would have reacted if she, the smartest of the six wizards, had failed the challenge. They were able to enter the classroom eagerly, no longer burdened with worries about Hermione.

“Hey! Shut up!” Professor Elric yelled.

The class was silenced immediately. They had quickly learned that the young professor did not like being ignored. Failure to listen to him ended badly; as did asking unwanted questions. The third years had grown to respect their alchemy teacher in an almost fearful way. Well, most them, that is. The Slytherins were still put out about being taught by a fifteen-year-old muggle, and they weren’t afraid to show it.

“Alright, now listen up. Everyone write down what you think the answer to the riddle is on a single sheet of paper and sign your name. When you’re done, bring it to me. If you aren’t all done in five minutes, then you can leave. It shouldn’t take you longer than that to write the answer.” The golden eyed teacher glared out at them. “What are you all staring at me for? It’s not going to write itself!”

There was a scramble for quills and paper and then the scratching sound of writing. Harry wrote down his answer and signed his name. He stepped forward to place his parchment in Professor Elric’s outstretched hand, along with the rest of the class. Soon the students had settled back into their seats.

“Now, I’m going to call your name and say either left or right, and you go sit on that side of the room, got it?” Everyone nodded in response to Professor Elric, who was holding the stack of papers. “Brown; left. Longbottom; right. Crabbe; left. Goyle; left.” Lavender’s face morphed into disappointment. She obviously didn’t like her chances after those two names. “Malfoy; right. Zabini; right. Thomas; right. Finnegan; left.” The two Gryffindors shot each other a disappointed look. “Potter, right. Weasley, right. Granger, right. Jackson, right. Di Angelo, right. Grace, right.” Professor Elric set the papers down on his desk. “Congratulations to the people on the left; you now have a free period. Out.”

There were excited whispers from the right side and groans of dismay from the left. Professor Elric turned towards the blackboard. Before he could write anything, Seamus Finnegan spoke.

“That’s not fair!”

Professor Elric stopped; his hand halfway up towards the board. “Excuse me?” He said, his voice cold.

The Seamus looked almost like he regretted speaking, but he plowed on anyway. “That riddle wasn’t fair! You didn’t give us any clues, and we only got one guess! How were we supposed to answer it without knowing what we were looking for?!”

“Well, he’s certainly as brave as a Gryffindor should be,” Harry heard Nico mutter.

Harry eyed the professor nervously. They had all seen his angry outbursts, and they had all learned to avoid them whenever possible. Professor Elric hadn’t moved, his back still the class. After what seemed like an eternity of silence, though it had only been seconds, he spoke.

“Not fair, huh? Well, I suppose you’re right.” Ed paused as the class exchanged confused looks. Since when did their professor ever admit to being wrong? They didn’t dare speak as he continued. “You’re absolutely right. I wasn’t being fair at all. After all, here you all are stuck in this incredibly _safe_ castle, not _once_ in danger of starving, or in any danger at all! Why, when _I_ was given this riddle, I had the advantage of being trapped with nothing but a knife. Forced to hunt and kill my own food, attacked by a skilled fighter with just a knife to defend myself, and pushed to the brink of starvation. That helped the answer to become clear at last–and here you all are, not having any of those advantages!”

If possible, the class had gone even more silent. Professor Elric’s voice dropped, and Harry could hear a hint of gleeful anticipation in it as he spoke again. “Well, I’ll have to remedy that, now won’t I?” He turned around, finally facing the class. His golden eyes glimmered, accompanied by a smirk that looked almost evil. “Everyone on the left side; if you can hold your own in a fight against me, I’ll consider giving you an extension. Your minds are obviously not trained well enough, but as you said, I didn’t give you the proper bodily training.” He pointed to Seamus. “You. Seamus Finnegan, right?”

Seamus gulped and nodded.

“Alright then. You spoke up first, so you can be the first to attack.” Professor Elric clapped his hands together and placed them on the wall. To Seamus’s obvious horror, he pulled out a spear. The professor whirled towards Seamus, his golden eyes gleaming. “Well, what are you waiting for? After all, you have magic and I just have a pointy stick. Shouldn’t be hard, right?”

Seamus took a deep breath before pulling out his wand and stepping forward. Professor Elric’s smile widened. “Everyone else please stand back. I don’t want you getting in the way. Finnegan, you can use whatever spell you want. Just as long as you don’t hit anyone but me.”

The students moved to the back of the classroom. Seamus had a determined look in his eye, though Harry could tell he was still somewhat afraid. He raised his wand and fired a spell at the golden-haired professor. His aim was perfect, and the spell flew straight towards its target. But the target didn’t stay still. Professor Elric jumped to the side and ran towards Seamus, who panicked and almost dropped his wand. Professor Elric was next to him in no time; and had kicked Seamus into the wall. Several of the girls screamed.

“Come on, that was pathetic!” Professor Elric didn’t sound disgusted, he sounded more…disappointed? “I’ll give you another chance. Come on, put up a real fight!”

Seamus stood up from the wall, looking a bit angry. He charged the teacher, apparently hoping to hit him at close range. Professor Elric had clearly anticipated this. With one arm he pushed Seamus’s wand arm towards the ceiling, then swept his feet out from under him with his leg. Smacking his wand from his hand on the way down, he leveled his spear to Seamus’s face. It happened so fast that Harry almost didn’t register the movements.

The door banged open, revealing a worried looking McGonagall. “Mr. Elric, I heard screaming, is ever-” Her worry turned to absolute shock in half a second. “Mr. Elric!! _What on earth are you doing?!”_

The object of Professor McGonagall’s rage glanced up from where he had Seamus pinned to the floor underneath his spear. “Teaching.” The professor replied mildly. “Is there a problem, professor?”

“YES, I would say that there is!” McGonagall seemed to have recovered from her initial shock, but she didn’t look any less angry. “Would you please _get that spear away from Mr. Finnegan’s face?”_

Professor Elric reluctantly removed his spear, allowing Seamus to nervously stand, wincing at his sore body.

“Mr. Thomas, please escort Mr. Finnegan to the hospital wing. And Mr. Elric, would you please explain exactly what you are ‘teaching’ to your students?”

The alchemy professor sighed and leaned on his spear. “He didn’t solve the riddle, so I said that if he could fight me then he could have another chance,” he stated bluntly.

The head of Gryffindor seemed to be having trouble staying calm. “But what does that have to do with _alchemy?”_ She pressed.

“To train the mind, one must train the body. Alchemy requires both physical and mental strength. Those that failed the riddle challenge are obviously lacking in mental strength. I decided I might as well test their physical strength before completely giving up on them. Seems that they lack that as well though. Oh well. It was fun anyway.”

Professor McGonagall looked ready to give Professor Elric detention, and Harry that suspected she would do so if she were able. Seeing as she was not able, she had to be content with reprimanding him. “Mr. Elric, would you kindly refrain from attacking students in your further classes? That is, _at least_ without some sort of protection put in place?”

“Ah fine, if you insist. I won’t attack them inside anymore. I’ll make sure we’re outside if I do it again.”

The aspiring alchemy students exchanged frightened looks. The Gryffindors and Slytherins finally agreed on something–this was going to be an interesting class indeed.

~o~O~o~

That evening, as the six wizards lounged around the common room fire, Harry decided to bring up the subject that had puzzled him to no end. Or subjects, plural. He wanted to know more about the three exchange students. They had known them for two months, yet they were still such a mystery. Harry decided that the best way to start solving that mystery was to ask questions, so that’s what he did.

“Percy, didn’t you say that the divination professor from your school had given out actual prophecies? Real ones, that came true?” Harry figured that it was best to start somewhere safe before moving into more prying questions.

“Yeah, she did. How many has she given by now?” Thalia said.

“Well…that’s a difficult question…” Percy said. “It really depends on how you–” Percy stopped himself abruptly. “Several. Let’s go with that.”

“She’s given several prophecies, and all of them have been fulfilled completely?” Hermione asked disbelievingly. “What is her name? I’d like to look her up if I can.” It was obvious that Hermione was doubting the credibility of the so-called prophet, but no one said as much.

“Her name? It's–uh–Delfon Ton Manteio.” Percy answered.

“That’s a rather exotic name,” Hermione said, writing it down.

“Yeah, she’s…Greek.” Nico offered, though Harry thought that they all seemed to be holding back smiles.

“Oh, is that why you learned Greek?” Ron asked.

“Well, she encouraged it, but we made the decision ourselves,” Percy said easily.

“Why Greek though?” Hermione said, puzzled. “It’s not even a very useful language. And how did you even learn it so well with your dyslexia?”

The three wizards in question seemed to freeze for a moment before Thalia hurried to answer. “Ah, well, we learned mostly by verbal instruction. As for why; we just found the language fascinating.”

Hermione nodded, but she still looked skeptical. Harry was willing to bet that the answers had not satisfied her, and the same went for him. He had wanted to remove confusion concerning the exchange students, but he had only succeeded in adding more. _‘I don’t know what it is that they’re hiding, but we’ll find out eventually; that’s for sure.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you have probably guessed, ‘Delfon Ton Manteio’ is Greek. More specifically, it is the English pronunciation of ‘Μαντείο των Δελφών’ which is Greek for ‘Oracle of Delphi.’ I know, very on the nose, but I couldn’t resist. It just seemed like something Percy would do. Even he isn’t dumb enough to actually say Rachel’s name, and he had to say something.


	10. You Really Put the 'Miss' in 'Missive'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there are letters, and Ed misses his brother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek 

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

 

**Edward**

To say the least, Ed thought that his end-of-the-month classes had gone well. He was quite disappointed that his ‘terrify the whiny kids that aren’t smart enough for alchemy by pulling a spear on them’ plan had been put to a stop by the third class. It had been working quite beautifully, and he had planned on using it to stop any students stupid enough to try and exact revenge.

Too bad McGonagall didn’t seem to approve. Apparently wizards did not imply very strenuous training methods. Ed grinned inwardly. The physical portion of his class was going to be quite entertaining. For him at least. Ed looked over his revised list of students, which was significantly smaller than before.

_‘Theoretically, I could combine quite a few classes, which would mean more time for research. But, when it comes to teaching alchemy, it’s definitely better to have a smaller number of students, so I suppose I’ll leave them as they are. Of course, it’s ideal to have a private instructor, but it’s not like_ that’s _going to happen.’_

Ed leaned back in his chair and glanced at his watch. It was getting late, and if Al were here he would be telling him to sleep. Ed had tried not to think about how much he missed his brother, but it was impossible to ignore at times. And now, after a month of being apart, and with tomorrow’s date, the ache was even more noticeable. He wanted so much to at least hear Al’s voice, but the stupid wizards didn’t even have telephones. The best they could do was communicate by _owl,_ which Ed still thought incredibly inconvenient. And that wasn’t nearly enough.

In an attempt to distract himself, Ed turned his thoughts to one of the third-year Gryffindors, Nico. After the unfortunate…incident, Ed was sure that Nico had noticed his arm, but the boy hadn’t said anything at all. Ed wasn’t really worried about it. It wasn’t like his arm was a horrible secret. But it would raise many unwanted questions from the naturally curious students, which was something he could live without.

Ed glanced at his watch again, which read 1:27. _‘I really should go to sleep,’_ he thought mournfully. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was dreading not only sleeping, but also facing the next day without Al. Ed had never been away from his brother for so long, and he had never gone through that day without Al. _‘It’s just one day. I can survive one day. Even if it is that day.’_ Ed closed his pocket watch, the light catching on the roughly engraved words-‘don’t forget 3. October 11.’

~o~O~o~

Edward was really starting to regret letting Alphonse choose the picture for his doorway. It wasn’t like Al was _trying_ to annoy him or anything, but Ed honestly wondered why he thought that a picture of Colonel Mustang’s office was the best one. At first Ed had thought that is was a rather cheery photo; all of them happily at work with Al reading in the corner. 

And then he had remembered that the picture could now talk. Having Colonel Mustang tell him that he was late every morning got annoying _really_ fast, and there wasn’t anything he could do about it. He consoled with the thought that Hughes could have been the one to pick a photo.

But this morning he barely payed attention to the picture. His one focus was to get through the day as quickly as possible, hopefully without any complications.

~o~O~o~

“Edward, are you doing alright? You don’t look so good.” Madame Pomfrey’s worried tone jolted Edward out of his semi-daze at breakfast.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just didn’t get enough sleep last night.” That was part of the problem for sure, but Ed was also not looking forward to his classes. It was bad enough to have to face this day without Al, but he also had to deal with four classes full of ignorant teenagers. Great.

Madame Pomfrey didn’t look convinced, but she let the matter slide. Ed perked up when a tawny owl landed in front of him. He hadn’t quite gotten used to the routine owl invasion and he didn’t think he ever would, but now he looked forward to it. Buying an owl was the last thing he had wanted to do, but it was necessary if he wanted to communicate with Al. Ed eagerly tore open the letter.

 

_Dear Brother,_

_It sounds like you’ve been really busy at that school. I’m still having trouble thinking of you as a professor though. After all, we never even completed school! Are you going to teach them the same way Teacher did? I’m not sure if you should, I don’t think that the rest of the teachers would like that. Please try to be careful with them, you don’t want them to get broken._

_I wish I was there with you, I’d like to see all of that magic for myself. And I could help you research since you don’t have that much spare time. Everything that you’ve told me about magic seems unbelievable. If it’s really as powerful as you say, then maybe we’ve finally found a solution. But if it’s really that powerful, then it must be very risky. Nothing can be that powerful without some sort of danger. I hope you aren’t spending too much time researching, you need to be sleeping enough. I know that you can get caught up in your reading._

_Colonel Mustang said to tell you to “keep your damn temper under control and don’t screw anything up, and try not to offend anyone important.” Although, Havoc wouldn’t mind if that happened, as long as it isn’t too big. He and Breda have a bet going about how long it’ll take for the Colonel to get paperwork because of you._

_Make sure you’re taking care of your automail. I don’t think that Winry will be very understanding if you break it with_ magic _of all things. You mentioned that the students have a break this winter, will you be able to visit then? I know it’s a long ways to travel, but I really miss you, Brother. I have been able to get some research done, but it’s not the same without you here._

_And Ed, I just wanted to let you know, you don’t have to worry about me. I know that_ that _day will be harder without you, but I’ll be okay. I am worried about you though. I wish that you didn’t have to be alone up there. I can’t even think of a time that we’ve been apart for this long, and it’s only been one month. I miss you so much Brother._

_Brother, I know it’s hard for you, but you should really try to be friendly with some of the students. I know you're not very good at interacting with teenagers, but you should give it a try. You shouldn’t spend the entire year by yourself. Now that you have the opportunity, you should at least try to make a friend your age. Write to me as soon as you can. And please try to visit soon!_

_Alphonse_

 

Ed finished reading the letter with a smile. Despite what Al said, he did worry about him. They had never been apart for this long before; of course he was worried about his little brother. Even so, the letter had cheered him significantly, and he headed to his classroom with his spirits slightly lifted.

~o~O~o~

His first class of the day was fifth-year Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. ‘ _Honestly I couldn’t care less about what ‘house’ they’re in. The whole sorting business makes no sense; though I have noticed that they all seem to act differently according to their house. From what I’ve gathered, the Ravenclaws are smarter than most, but sometimes pretentious. The Hufflepuffs are more accepting, but timid. And then there’s the other two…Gryffindor and Slytherin.’_

_‘Most the Slytherins seem to be cunningly smart, and the Gryffindors are daring. But for some reason, the Gryffindors seem to absolutely despise the Slytherins. Sure, the Slytherin’s do sometimes seem a bit more mean-spirited than the others, but that’s not true for all of them. I’m just glad I only have one class with them together.’_

Ed was interrupted from his musings by the arrival of his eight students. Four from Hufflepuff, four from Gryffindor. The students slid into their respective seats and eagerly waited for him to begin. They all looked excited to begin, but they seemed a bit taken aback by his forlorn manner. Ed sighed inwardly. Of all the classes, he had to start with this one. Most of the students were fine, but then there were those two Gryffindors. Ed had given up on telling them apart and had simply dubbed them as the Demon Duo.

They weren’t exceptionally mean-spirited, they just seemed to delight in causing trouble for the fun of it. Right now, however, they seemed to have read the depressing mood.

“Alright, you eight have answered the riddle so now you can begin studying real alchemy. You won’t be able to learn anything advanced with the time you have, but you should be able to get at least the basics. Maybe much more, depending on how hard you work.”

Edward picked up a piece of chalk and drew a circle on the board. “The circle is one of the most important parts of an alchemic array. The circle indicates the flow of power, and the symbols and runes that are inside of the circle are what allow you to preform alchemy. You must understand what the symbols mean, and what your product is made of, in order to successfully transmute anything.”

Ed turned back to the class to answer the inevitable question. Sure enough, several hands were raised. “Yes?” Ed pointed to a Hufflepuff near the front.

“Sir, if the circle is necessary for alchemy, then why didn’t you draw one when you showed us alchemy on the first day?”

Yep, he knew that question would come eventually. “When I clap my hands together, I form a circle, and my body is the matrix for the transmutation. And no, I can not teach you how to do it. So don’t ask.”

Nearly all the students looked disappointed, especially the Demon Duo. Ed turned back to his lesson. _‘Just finish teaching. That’s all I have to do. I can do that. It won’t be so hard.’_

~o~O~o~

After what seemed like an eternity, Edward ended his last class. _‘Now I can finally go to the library and keep researching. And I can write a letter to Alphonse.’_ He walked towards the library, keeping a wary eye out for any hidden students. Ever since that first prank, he had been the prime candidate for others.

None other than first had succeeded, mostly because Ed was determined not to be embarrassed like that again. The students had soon learned that it would take quite a bit of nerve to challenge the alchemist, especially after word of the ‘spear incident’ got around. Ed entered the library and immediately headed to the magical theory section.

He was hoping that if he learned more about how magic worked, then he would be able to find a way to use it to get Al’s body back. What frustrated him was that though magic had laws and theories, they were completely different from anything in alchemy. And after looking into it more, he didn’t think he _could_ preform magic. Even so, he found the theories interesting to study.

And thanks to the Amestrian-English dictionary that Hermione had provided, he had made a lot of progress with the language. Reading the books in English had been a struggle at first, but it was getting easier. He was by no means fluent in the language, but he didn’t have to stop every sentence to look for a word he didn’t know.

The hours ticked by, and Ed knew that he should head back to his room. He glanced around the library first, frowning. Over the last few weeks, he had perpetually had the feeling that someone was watching him, but he had never seen anyone. The feeling never seemed to go away, and Ed had blamed it on all the moving pictures scattered throughout the castle. He wasn’t sure if that was what was causing it, but he couldn’t think of any other explanation.

Again seeing no one, he turned and walked towards his room. The feeling of being watched seemed to vanish, but Ed blamed the stressful day for his paranoia. _‘After all, it’s past curfew. There aren’t any students out of bed to be following me around, and there’s no reason for any of the teachers to. I’m just tired, that’s all.’_ That was what Ed told himself as he exited the library. Even if he had turned, he wouldn’t have seen the way the shadows seemed to bend and darken around a black haired boy, swallowing him into darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was surprisingly hard to write that letter from Al. I hope I did good with it.


	11. You Really Put the 'Invest' in 'Investigate'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which investigations happen, and clues are found

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don’t own the song ‘This is War’ by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

*<*<*>*>* - Begin/end flashback

 

 

** Percy **

 

“So…are we sure about this?” Percy questioned Thalia. The two demigods were standing at the end of the hallway that led to Edward Elric’s room.

“Yes, we’re sure. We’ve been over this, Percy. We need to get information, and-” Thalia cut herself off.

“What? What is it?”

“Don’t you hear that?”

Percy furrowed his brow, listening. “Who could that be? Nico is watching the library, so it can’t be Elric.”

     Thalia frowned as the footsteps got closer, but no one appeared. When they were right next to them, she reached out towards the sound. She must have made contact with something; because she grinned triumphantly.

“Aha! Got you!”

There was a muffled squeak, then Harry, Ron, and Hermione appeared, holding a silvery cloak. They stared at each other in disbelief.

“What are you doing here?!” Thalia hissed.

“What are we doing here? What are _you_ doing here?!” Ron retorted.

Neither side answered, causing a rather awkward silence. Finally, Harry spoke.

“Well, we were…uh…” He trailed off.

Percy raised his eyebrows. “You were following us, weren’t you?”

The three wizards nodded sheepishly.

“You snuck out of the room at 11:30, of course we followed you!” Hermione said. “What on earth are you three doing? you could get in trouble!”

Percy and Thalia exchanged glances.They were both thinking the same thing. If they didn’t tell them, then they would be suspicious. But if they did, then they needed a reasonable excuse. Thalia nodded slightly.

“We want to know more about Professor Elric.” Percy said.

Hermione’s eyes widened. “Are you planning on sneaking into his room?!” The two demigods nodded reluctantly, and Hermione’s eyes grew even wider. “But why?”

“C’mon Hermione, aren’t you curious?” Ron interjected. “I know I am.” He turned to Thalia and Percy. “We’ll come with you!”

“Ron!” Hermione squeaked. “We can’t break into a professor’s room! We’ll get into serious trouble!”

“You can go back to the room if you want, but I’m going with them.” Ron declared.

Hermione frowned. “You won’t even be able to get into his room without a password. How are planning on getting past that?” She inquired triumphantly.

Thalia grinned. “We know the password, of course. We wouldn’t be doing this unprepared.”

Hermione hesitated. “Well…how will you know if he’s coming? He could come back at any minute and catch you!”

“Nico’s watching him in the library,” Percy answered. “When he leaves, Nico will come back and tell us. But we need to go now, we don’t know how much time we have.”

Thalia and Percy began walking down the hallway. Ron and Harry followed closely behind. Hermione followed less enthusiastically. The five hurried down the hallway until they came to the room.

“That’s an interesting picture,” Hermione commented.

Percy turned to the picture. He hadn’t really paid attention to it before. It showed a room, probably an office, with several desks. There were seven people scattered around the room, and six of them wore blue military uniforms. The seventh was in a towering suit of armor. Looking closer, Percy realized that it was the same armor that Professor Elric had created on the first day.

“Well, he is in the military.” Thalia reasoned. “That’s probably where he works.”

“I still wonder about that.” Ron said. “How on earth could a fifteen-year-old be in the military?”

“I would ask him, but I don’t think he’d appreciate it.” Harry said. “I heard that Micheal Corner asked, and it didn’t go over well.”

“Enough gawking, we need to hurry!” Hermione said nervously. “You said you know the password. What is it?”

Thalia turned to the picture. “Alphonse.” The blonde woman in the picture eyed them suspiciously, but the picture still swung open.

The five teenagers hurriedly entered the room. As far as Percy could tell, it looked like an ordinary bedroom.The bed in the far left corner, a desk against the right wall, and a dresser on the back wall. The desk and the nightstand were piled high with books and papers. They spread out quickly.

Percy walked over to the desk. To be honest, he was glad that three wizards had joined them. It would have been difficult to read anything that they found, but now that wouldn’t be a problem. Percy picked up a stack of papers that looked like letters. He squinted at the writing, trying to make out any words.

“Hey, guys, I think I found something.” The others hurried over to his side. Percy handed Hermione the letters.

Hermione peered at the letters, fascinated. “Well, they’re written in a different language. I’m sure it’s Amestrian though, that would make sense.”

“Well, can you translate them?” Harry asked eagerly.

“I think so. I translated that dictionary for Professor Elric, so I should be able to use the same spells for these.”

“We don’t have time right now,” Thalia said. “Make copies of the letters and we’ll translate them back at the tower.”

Hermione nodded and began copying the several letters. She had barely started when Nico appeared behind them.

“We need to go. He’s on his–” Nico stopped abruptly. “What are THEY doing here?!”

“We ran into them on our way,” Percy explained. “So they came with us.”

“Never mind that, how the bloody hell did you just appear behind us?!” Ron yelled.

“Shh!” Thalia hissed. “You were probably too distracted to notice him coming in.”

Ron and Harry nodded, though Hermione still looked skeptically. They rushed out of the room, being sure to place the letters back on the desk and closing the door securely. With Harry, Hermione, and Ron under the invisibility cloak, they slipped back to the Gryffindor tower.

~o~O~o~

“Alright, we made it.” Nico sighed with relief as they collapsed into the seats around the fire.

“Hermione, can you translate those letters now?” Percy asked eagerly.

“Give me some time!” Hermione huffed. “I can’t do it right away, it’ll take a day at least for me to work them all out. I could do it faster, but we want an _accurate_ translation. I’ll tell you as soon as I’m done.”

“How many did you manage to get?” Harry asked.

“Only two,” Hermione said. “Hopefully they’ll have something. I would hate to have done all that for nothing.”

With that, the six students headed to their respective beds.

~o~O~o~

The next night, long after everyone else was in bed, they huddled around the fire in the common room, eagerly waiting as Hermione put the finishing touches on the translation spell.

“All right, I think that’s it. I suppose I’ll just read them out loud,” Hermione said nervously. “Dear Brother, Everything that you’ve told me about magic seems unbelievable. I wish I could see it for myself. You’ll have to bring something back to show me at least. I love the owl you bought! She’s beautiful! We’re going to keep her when you’re done with this job, right? I know you think that we can’t keep animals because we travel so much, but an owl wouldn’t be as bad as a cat, right? Have you named her yet? You didn’t tell me a name, so I’ve been calling her Ruby. I really miss you brother, and it’s only been one week. All of that magic hasn’t messed up your automail, has it? You know if you break it then Winry’ll have to come all the way up there to fix it. And she’ll definitely charge you extra, so you should really be careful.” Hermione paused here.

“What in the world is automail?” Ron asked.

     Percy, Nico, and Thalia looked at each other. Not for the first time, they had a silent exchange. ‘should we tell them?’ Percy nodded, followed by Nico. Thalia sighed, but she nodded as well.

“I think that’s his arm,” Nico said.

“What?” Harry said, confused. “Wha do you mean, his arm? It’s just an arm, right?”

“Well…when we helped him get to the hospital wing, I noticed that his arm seemed to be made of metal.” Nico explained. “We didn’t tell you because we figured he wouldn’t want everyone knowing.”

“You mean his entire arm is _metal?!”_ Harry exclaimed. “How could that be possible?! It moves just like a normal arm!”

“At least the lower half is. I’m sure that’s what ‘automail’ is.” Nico said.

“We’ll talk about that later, finish reading the letter!” Thalia said.

Hermione read the rest of the letter. Nothing especially interesting came up, except for a mention of some goal that needed to be accomplished, possibly with magic. The letter was signed ‘Alphonse’.

“Oh, so that’s what his password means!” Percy said. “It’s his brother’s name!”

Hermione nodded. “That makes sense. But what was all that about a goal, and maybe reaching it with magic?”

“I don’t know. This has answered a few questions, but really it’s just caused more.” Percy sighed. “Why don’t you read the other letter, Hermione.”

Hermione picked up the second letter. This one was much shorter and more professional looking. Clearing her throat, she began to read.

“Fullmetal, I’ve learned more about the situation in England, and it doesn’t look very good. If you really did read the file I gave you, then you will remember that a dangerous criminal, Sirius Black, has escaped from a highly secure prison. I have learned that Black may be targeting a student at the school, Harry Potter. I’d like you to keep an eye on him, and keep him safe if need be. Anything to help our relations with this country. They are not very good right now, so _please_ try not to do anything to make the situation worse. The last thing we need is a country with _magic_ as our enemies. Remember, they requested this teacher arrangement to gain trust, so don’t mess it up. And if I get more paperwork because of you, you’ll be sorry. Notify me if the situation changes. It’s signed Colonel Mustang, the Flame Alchemist.” Hermione finished reading and set the letter down.

“Well,” Thalia began. “That didn’t give us much.”

Hermione seemed to be thinking. “I think it did. This letter seems to be from a superior officer in the military. I’m guessing that ‘Fullmetal’ is Professor Elric’s military title as an alchemist working in the military.”

“What makes you think that?” Ron said, looking puzzled.

“It’s obvious, Ron,” Hermione said. “The letter is signed ‘the Flame Alchemist’ which is obviously his alchemist title. So it only stands to reason that Professor Elric is the Fullmetal Alchemist. We also know that Amestris and England don’t have very good political relations. That’s not very surprising. I hadn’t even heard of Amestris until this year. The two countries probably don’t trust each other much. The minister of magic must trust the government to some extent; because they know about the magical community. Though it seems that it isn’t common knowledge; because they talk about magic as if they can’t believe it’s real. So magic is most likely either non-existent or very rare in Amestris. And the Ministry of Magic wants to further our relations with Amestris, so that’s why the arranged for a teacher to be brought. I’m willing to bet that they also want to learn more about Amestris’s alchemy, to assess their threat level in case we end up fighting them.”

There was a moment of silence after Hermione had finished her analysis.

“Wow…you got all that from such a short letter?” Percy was impressed. Hermione really was smart.

Hermione looked flattered. “Well, it wasn’t that hard to figure it out. I was only putting the pieces together, really.”

“Well, you did a good job of it,” Harry said.

“We didn’t learn much, but at least we have something.” Inwardly, Percy knew that they had made progress. _‘It isn’t much, but now we know why he’s here. The Time Jumper somehow convinced the Minister of Magic that they needed to establish a more trustful relationship. He or she may have even arranged for Edward Elric specifically to be sent. But why? We still don’t know that. I can see how alchemy would have plenty of advantages, but what is he or she planning? We have to figure it out, but we don’t even know where to start looking. I hate to say it, but we could really use a prophecy right now.’_

*<*<*>*>*

_“Chiron, don’t we need a prophecy before we leave?” Thalia looked reluctant to ask, but she did anyway. “This is a pretty important quest, after all.”_

_“Well, normally that would be true.” Chiron replied. “But time travel is…complicated. You wouldn’t very well be able to receive a prophecy about past events, even if they haven’t happened yet.”_

_“Uhhh…what?” Percy had been confused before, and he was even more so now._

_Chiron sighed. “Like I said, time travel is complicated. It would be ideal if you had a prophecy, but it will be difficult to procure one.”_

_“Wait! Chiron!” Rachel burst through the door, panting._

_“Rachel?” Annabeth looked surprised. “What are you doing here?”_

_“I heard that I needed to come.”_

_No one asked how she heard. They had learned not to question Rachel when she got like this._

_“Chiron, someone needs a prophecy. But it’s odd…it’s like the prophecy can’t be given. It’s there, but…I don’t know how to explain it. What’s going on?”_

_“Well, this is an unforeseen development.” Chiron seemed to be thinking very hard. “It may be that the prophecy cannot be given in this timeline.”_

_Nico frowned. “Ok, I’m lost.”_

_“I think I know what you mean,” Annabeth said. “In the timeline that we’re in now, the prophecy wasn’t needed. But if the timeline changes because of the Time Jumper, then the prophecy will be needed. But because the timeline hasn’t been changed yet, the prophecy is…stuck. That’s the simplest way I can put it.”_

_Chiron nodded. “I think you’re on the right track, Annabeth.” He turned to Rachel. “The prophecy could be given after they jump back, but you won’t be there.”_

_“What do you mean, when they jump back? What’s happening?” Rachel looked even more confused than before. Annabeth quickly summarized the situation._

_Rachel hesitated before speaking. “I think…I think I know what to do. I can’t speak the prophecy right now, but…what if I gave it to you, unspoken?”_

_Even Annabeth looked confused now. “What do you mean, unspoken?” She asked._

_“I don’t know if I can explain it…let me just try.” Rachel’s eyes glazed over, and she looked as if she were about to speak a prophecy._

_Instead of speaking words, a green smoke poured out of her mouth. The smoke swirled around, condensing into a small swirling green mass. Annabeth scrambled for a jar and collected the smoke before it dissipated. Rachel returned to normal, collapsing into a nearby chair._

_“I think that’s your prophecy, but I’m not sure.” Rachel’s voice was strained; as if she would pass out at any second. “Giving a prophecy like that…I think it may have major consequences. Definitely don’t open it until you’ve jumped back. Even then, only do it if it’s absolutely necessary. It could have huge consequences or none at all. Please, be careful.” With those words, Rachel had slipped into unconsciousness._

*<*<*>*>*

Eventually, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went to their rooms. The three demigods sat in silence around the fire. Finally, Nico broke the silence.

“I think…we need to use it.” Thalia opened her mouth in protest, but Nico cut her off before she could start. “I know what you’re going to say, Thalia, but we don’t really have a choice! We’ve tried everything we can. We have more information than we did, but it’s still not enough. It’s been two months now! If we keep going at this pace, then the damage will be irreversible! I don’t want to do it any more than you, but we have to!”

“I know, Nico.” Thalia said softly. “We really don’t have any other choice. We aren’t making any progress. I just hope-” Thalia’s voice hitched slightly. “I hope that Rachel doesn’t get hurt because of us.”

The three time-jumpers sat in silence once more. This time, it was Percy who spoke.

“So…we’re sure about this then?” He had pulled out the jar and was holding it as if it might explode. Thalia and Nico nodded solemnly. “Alright then. Be sure to pay attention, we need to remember it. There’s no guarantee we can hear it again.” Taking a deep breath, Percy unscrewed the lid.

Immediately, the green mist expanded, swirling around the floor. The all-too-familiar voice of the Oracle spoke from the swirling green haze.

_A warning to the people_

_The good and the evil_

_This is becoming a war_

_To the soldier, the civilian_

_The martyr, the victim_

_This is already war_

_A warning to the prophets_

_The liar, the honest_

_It’s the moment of truth_

_The moment to lie_

_The moment to live_

_The moment to die_

_The moment to fight_

_To the edge of the earth_

_From the last to the first_

_You will fight to the death_

_This is war_

The mist disappeared, twisting up into the air before evaporating. Before any of the three demigods could say anything, they heard an incredulous voice from the stairs.

_“What the bloody hell was that?!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I know. I used song lyrics for my prophecy. I was going to make up my own, but then I was listening to ‘This is War’ and realized that the lyrics fit almost perfectly, and I couldn’t resist. I did alter them a bit though. So yeah. Sue me (please don’t though).


	12. You Really Put the 'Mission' in 'Admission'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which confessions are made, and prophecies are discussed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don’t own the song ‘This is War’ by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

*<*<*>*>* - Begin/end flashback

 

 

**Harry**

 

“Oi, Harry, do you hear that?” Ron’s voice jolted Harry from his half-asleep state.

“Huh? What?” Harry sat up and rubbed his eyes. “What is it, Ron?”

Ron was standing by the door. “I hear something down in the common room. It sounds kinda like a voice. C’mon!”

Harry got out of bed, fumbling for his glasses. The two boys stumbled into the common room, where they froze in shock. Percy, Nico, and Thalia were still sitting around the fire. On the floor swirled a green mist, and a decidedly creepy voice seemed to be coming from it. Harry and Ron heard the voice say, _‘this is war’_ before it swirled into the air and dissipated. Harry stared in shock. The three around the fire hadn’t noticed them yet. Ron fixed that.

_“What the bloody hell was that?!”_ He yelled.

Percy, Nico, and Thalia whirled around to face them, their eyes wide.

“Shh!” Thalia hissed. “You’re going to wake everyone up!”

“WE are going to wake everyone up?! What about you and all your crazy smoke and creepy voices?! And you haven’t answered! What the bloody hell was all that?!”

The three Americans looked at each other in hesitation.

“Could we…get back to you on that?” Percy said weakly.

Ron stared in disbelief. Harry managed to snap himself out of his daze and say something.

“Was that some kind of magic?” He asked warily.

“Well…it’s complicated,” Thalia hedged. “Look, can we…explain in the morning? Please? It’s late, and I’m sure Hermione would like to hear it too.”

Ron looked like he was about to protest, but Harry grabbed his arm before he could.

“All right, but you’d better explain.” Harry pulled Ron back into the room.

“Harry–” Ron began.

“Look, Ron, if we had pushed them to explain right away then they probably would have just lied. If we give them some time to think about it, then maybe they’ll decide to tell the truth.”

Ron looked skeptical. “What makes you think they won’t just lie anyway?”

“They might. But lets at least give them a chance. Besides, they were right about one thing. Hermione _will_ want to hear about this.”

Harry climbed back into his bed. Several minutes later, as he was drifting off to sleep, he heard Percy and Nico enter the room.

~o~O~o~

“Alright, you promised an explanation.”Ron confronted Percy and Nico before they had a chance to escape to the common room.

“Can’t we at least eat breakfast first?” Percy whined.

“We have class right after breakfast. Explain quickly, and you’ll have time to eat.” Harry was just as determined as Ron to get answers. He only hoped that his new friends would decide to tell the truth.

Percy sighed. “Fine. We should wait for Thalia and Hermione though.

The four boys walked down to the common room and waited around the fire. Most of the other Gryffindors were already at breakfast, so they had plenty of privacy. It didn’t take long for Hermione and Thalia to descend the stairs from the girls’ rooms.

“Alright, we’re all here. Now explain,” Ron demanded.

“What’s this all about?” Hermione asked with a frown. “Explain what?”

Harry hurried to fill her in. “Last night, these three,” he gestured towards Thalia, Nico, and Percy, “were doing some weird sort of magic. There was green smoke or something, and a really creepy voice.”

Hermione’s frown deepened. “Green smoke and a creepy voice?” She turned to the culprits. “What were you doing?”

The three looked at each other, a look of resignation in their eyes. Thalia spoke.

“We didn’t want to have to tell you anything, but we’ve decided that we should.” Nico and Percy nodded in affirmation.

“Tell us _what?”_ Ron asked, exasperated.

“We’re getting to that!” Thalia sighed. “Well, what you saw…it wasn’t exactly magic.”

“Not magic? What else could have caused that?” Harry asked.

“Well…where do I start…” Thalia muttered. She sighed again. “It has to do with us speaking Greek. And being dyslexic. And not enjoying heights.”

Harry, Hermione, and Ron looked at each other, perplexed.

“Where are you going with this?” Hermione said slowly.

Percy fidgeted slightly. “Remember when you said it was almost like we were related?” Percy took a deep breath before continuing. “Well, you weren’t exactly wrong.”

One very long and confusing explanation later, Harry, Hermione, and Ron were speechless. Harry’s mind was whirling with all of the new information. Greek gods? Prophecies? He had thought that he couldn’t be surprised anymore after being exposed to the magical world. As it turned out, he was wrong. Very, very wrong. He would have accused them of lying, but he could see the grim seriousness in their eyes. And it was highly unlikely that they had fabricated everything. Hermione didn’t seem to agree with his reasoning.

“That’s ridiculous!” She protested, her voice going up an octave, the way it always did when she was stressed. “There’s no way any of that can be true!”

“Well, I didn’t think you would believe us right away.” Nico said. “But it’s true. I know, it sounds ridiculous, but we aren’t lying.”

“But–but there’s no way that any of that is true!” Hermione seemed desperate.

“Hermione, I know this is hard to believe,” Thalia said calmly. “But think about it logically. What reasons would we have to lie to you about this? And look at the evidence. Everything that seems weird about us has an explanation.”

“Except for Percy’s eating habits,” Nico cut in. Thalia’s mouth twitched, but she managed to keep a straight face.

Hermione looked like she was struggling for an explanation. “It’s just–I don’t know how this could be possible.” She turned to Harry and Ron. “What do you think?”

“I think they’re telling the truth,” Harry said slowly. “I don’t see any reason for them to lie. And this _does_ explain all of the strange things about them.”

Ron frowned. “I don’t know. I don’t know much about Greek gods or myths, but their story seems….” He paused. “Well, I’ve never heard anything like it before, but it seems like it could be true. All of their explanations seem to make sense.”

Suddenly Hermione’s eyes widened. “Wait a minute! Your divination teacher–was she the one who gave you the prophecy?!”

Thalia nodded. “Yes, But don’t call it divination. It was a real prophecy.”

“So her name…Delfon ton Manteio? That was Greek, wasn’t it?”

Percy smirked. “Yep. That’s Ancient Greek for Oracle of Delphi.”

Hermione bit her lip, processing this new information. “I still don’t know. Why did you decide to reveal all of this? You could have easily come up with a believable excuse. You could have passed it off as some sort of magic. Why did you decide to tell us?”

“Well,” Nico began, “We weren’t originally planning to. We decided to because of the prophecy.”

“What did the prophecy say?” Ron asked eagerly. “We didn’t hear all of it last night, just the last line: this is war.”

Thalia pulled out a sheet of parchment. “This prophecy is longer than most, but we were able to write it all down.” Taking a deep breath, she read the prophecy aloud. “A warning to the people, the good and the evil, this is becoming a war. To the soldier, the civilian, the martyr, the victim, this is already war. A warning to the prophets, the liar, the honest. It’s the moment of truth, the moment to lie, the moment to live, the moment to die, the moment to fight. To the edge of the earth, from the last to the first, you will fight to the death. This is war.” She laid the parchment out in front of them.

Nico pointed to the line ‘the moment of truth’. “We think that this means that we should tell you.”

“What about ‘the moment to lie’ that comes right after that?” Ron asked skeptically.

Nico shrugged. “Prophecies are confusing. It’ll make sense eventually.”

“So…you three really have _gods_ for parents?” Ron asked.

“Well, one parent.” Thalia amended. Hermione looked as if she were trying very hard not to protest.

“Who are your parents then?” Harry asked. It was still hard for him to believe, but he was curious.

“My dad is Hades, god of the Underworld, Percy’s dad is Poseidon, god of the ocean and earthquakes, and Thalia’s dad is Zeus, lord of the skies.” Nico supplied.

Ron snorted. “Your dad is the god of the skies and you’re scared of heights? That’s ironic.”

Thalia glared at Ron. “Don’t we have class soon or something?”

“Wait!” Harry said. “Do you have any…godly powers or anything?”

Thalia, Percy, and Nico paused. “Well…yes, I suppose you could say that.” Thalia seemed reluctant to admit it.

“Can you show us?” Ron asked eagerly.

“We can’t just go around using our powers all the time for your entertainment!” Thalia protested. “Besides, someone could see us–Percy what are you doing?”

Ron, Harry, and Hermione turned to look at Percy. He had grabbed a glass of water from the table.

“Chill, Thalia. I’m not going to do anything crazy. Watch this.” Percy splashed the water onto himself. Rather than being soaked, the water almost seemed to disappear.

“You’re water-proof?!” Ron exclaimed. “How do you take a bath?”

“I’m not _always_ waterproof,” Percy explained. “I can turn it off.”

Ron turned to Nico and Thalia. “What can you two do?”

“I can summon lightning,” Thalia said.

“I can temporarily raise the dead and shadow-travel,” Nico said.

“You mean you _used_ to be able to raise the dead and shadow travel.” Percy interrupted. “Now you can occasionally shadow-travel.”

“What’s shadow-travel?” Harry asked. “And why can’t you do it that often?”

“He overexerted himself not that long ago,” Thalia answered. “Now he can only do it occasionally or he risks turning into a shadow.”

“Shadow-travel is kinda like apparating,” Nico explained. “But I have to have shadows and it makes me really tired.”

Harry nodded, processing this new information. He now knew more about the three Americans than he ever thought he would, but he didn’t know how to handle the information. First he had been introduced to the whole wizarding world, and now he had to adjust to the revelation that there was whole other world out there; a world of gods and monsters and legends.

“Ok, we actually do have class now.” Thalia said.

“What?!” Percy exclaimed. “But that means no breakfast!”

“Sorry.” Thalia did not sound very sorry. “Let’s go, we’re going to be late.”

~o~O~o~

Harry found himself observing the three ‘demigods’ for the rest of the day. They went through their classes the same as always, but now he looked at them with a new light. The way they struggled to read notes on the backboard made sense now. When they rolled their eyes over Trelawney’s ridiculous predictions, he knew that it wasn’t just because she sounded crazy. When the muttered to each other in Greek, he knew why.

He didn’t know everything about them, but he knew enough that it was like looking at them with new eyes. He wished that the same were true about Professor Elric. The letters that they had snatched had only raised more questions. Naturally, that was what was on Harry’s mind during alchemy class.

Alchemy class was…interesting. Harry had thought that nothing could top the Spear Incident, but he was wrong. The class was significantly smaller than it had been one month ago. There were now ten students remaining. Professor Elric turned to face the class.

“There are ten students in this class now. Some of you will most likely either quit or be kicked out by the end of the year.” He informed them.

Hermione’s had shot into the air. “But professor, we all answered the riddle correctly, so why would be kicked out?”

“If any of you decides that you’re too good for the rules, then I’m not going to teach you. Alchemy is dangerous. If I find out that you’re planning to use it for something that could harm you or anyone else, then you’re out.” Professor Elric’s tone was deadly serious.

Hermione raised her hand again, hesitantly this time. “Professor, what kind of dangers do you mean?”

The young professor’s mouth was set in a grim line. “That is what this class will be about. You shouldn’t continue learning alchemy unless you know all of the risks.”

The class shifted uncomfortably as he continued. “Alchemy is a complicated science. Some of you may quit simply because you aren’t smart enough. In fact, I except that my number of students will be cut in half by the end of the year. Because alchemy is so hard to perform, it’s easy to make mistakes. Mistakes can cause rebounds, which can be harmful.”

Professor Elric continued for the rest of the class talking about different types of rebounds and their levels of severity. By the end of the class, everyone was even more nervous than before; even the two Slytherins, Malfoy and Zabini.

“Alright, we’re done.” Professor Elric ended class abruptly, as he always did. But this time, he wasn’t quite finished. “You six.” He pointed to Harry and his friends. “Stay here. The rest of you, leave.”

The four students shuffled out of the classroom, Neville shooting them a worried look on the way out. When they were gone, Professor Elric turned to the six students with a fierce glare in place.

“Now, I want to know what exactly you think you were doing in my room.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So…I wasn’t sure about this chapter. I didn’t really want to reveal the demigods yet, but it was kinda necessary for the plot. I just thought it seemed so cliché. I definitely wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t necessary. In case you weren’t sure, the demigods did not reveal that they are from the future.


	13. You Really Put the 'Ish' in 'Punsihment'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ed is angry; for good reason

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don’t own the song ‘This is War’ by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek

 

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

 

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

 

*<*<*>*>* - Begin/end flashback

 

** Edward **

 

Edward surveyed the six students in front of him. Hermione looked ashamed, Ron and Harry looked extremely uncomfortable (and a bit scared). Thalia, Percy, and Nico looked oddly determined. He wouldn’t have thought that Hermione would be a student he had to worry about. In fact, he wouldn’t have thought to worry about anyone getting into his room.

_‘well, that’s what I get for trusting the ridiculous magical security. Good thing painting Hawkeye is as vigilant as real Hawkeye.’_

“Well? I’m still waiting for an answer.”

“W-well, sir, we didn’t mean to–that is, we weren’t–” Hermione began nervously. But then she stopped; and, taking a deep breath, she spoke again. “We don’t have any excuses, sir. We let our curiosity get the best of us, and we acted like idiots. We will accept any punishment that you see fit, sir.”

The other five perpetrators nodded reluctantly. Edward noticed that Thalia, Nico, and Percy still held that defiant light in their eyes.

“First of all, I want to know what you saw.” Nothing had been missing from his room, but Ed knew that with magic, he shouldn’t rule out any possibilities.

“We-we read-” Hermione’s voice was small and frightened. “We read two of your letters,” she admitted.

Ed did his best to keep his temper, but it was getting increasingly more difficult. Who did these kids think they were that they could read through someone’s personal letters like that? He understood that they were curious, but they should know that there are limits to satisfying your curiosity!

“Which ones?” He asked, his temper rising quickly.

Harry answered this time, saving Hermione from her undesired position. “I have them right here, sir.” He pulled the two letters from his bag and handed them over.

Edward looked at the letters. “These are in English.” He looked back at Hermione. “I’m guessing you translated them?”

Hermione nodded, shamefaced. Ed examined the letters. His English had improved greatly over the last month, and he was able to read both letters with little trouble. To his dismay, one of the letters was his most recent letter from Colonel Mustang.

“I don’t know about here, but where I’m from it’s illegal to read a military correspondence unless it’s meant for you.” Ed glared at them over the paper.

Hermione looked near-terrified, and Ron and Harry looked fearful as well. Thalia, Nico, and Percy looked nervous as well, but they were doing a better job of hiding it.

“I could kick you out of my class for this, you know.”

The effect of his words was immediate. All six students wore expressions of shock; as if they hadn’t considered that possibility. Hermione looked as if she wanted to protest, but then a look of resignation came over her.

“I suppose we deserve that,” she said.

Edward didn’t miss the horrible disappointment in her voice. Her friends nodded, albeit reluctantly.

“But, you didn’t have any particularly evil intentions in mind. I can see that you won’t be making a mistake like this again.”

The students perked up immediately, hopeful looks on their faces.

“Don’t think that I’m not mad at you!” Ed snapped. “You had absolutely no right to do what you did.”

They sobered quickly, and Hermione shrunk back slightly before speaking. “S-sir, if you don’t mind me asking–what is our punishment going to be?”

“I suppose I should give you detention. That’s what normal teachers do, right?”

Hermione nodded, looking puzzled.

“Alright then. Detention. Every night for four weeks, starting tonight. You can meet me here at seven.” Ed was quite pleased with the way the six students stared at him, though he didn’t let it show. “It could be much worse, so you should be thanking me. Now hurry up, you’re going to miss your next class.”

Hermione hurried to stutter out a thank you before hurrying towards the door with relief.

“Except for you.” Edward pointed to Nico di Angelo. “Stay here a while longer. I need to talk to you.”

Nico’s friends glanced at him worriedly as they headed out the door. He waved them off. “Go on, I’ll catch up soon.”

Edward waited until the five teens were gone before rounding on Nico. “You somehow managed to get inside my room without using the door. I want to know how you did.”

Nico looked startled. “Um…I apparated?”

Ed scoffed. “Not only are you not experienced enough to do that, it’s impossible on the school grounds. Also, you’re a terrible liar.”

“Well, in that case, I can’t tell you.” Nico’s voice took on a hard edge.

“And why is that?” Edward asked.

“We all have secrets, don’t we?” Nico said. “I know you do.”

Something about the way he said it made Ed pause. The accusation, if you could call it that, sounded as if it had something to back it up. As if he knew something.

“What makes you say that?” Ed asked coldly.

Nico hesitated, perhaps regretting his words. “I didn’t want to say anything at first, but I can’t stand it anymore. There’s something about you that feels off. I don’t know how to describe it, it’s just…wrong somehow.”

“Wrong?” Ed questioned. “Does anyone else have this ‘feeling’ besides you?”

Nico shook his head. “No. It’s just me. But I know I’m not imagining anything. I don’t know what it is, but it has something to do with death.”

Edward froze. Death? Surely he couldn’t mean… “How can you feel it and no one else?” He asked cautiously.

Nico stopped again. “I can’t tell you that.”

“Well, we’re never going to get anywhere if we keep going like this!” Ed said impatiently.

“Well…I don’t know for sure about this…” Nico hesitated. “If you tell me what it is that I’m sensing, then I’ll tell you how I can sense it. I normally would _never_ do this, but–” Nico growled in frustration. “This feeling that I have–I can’t get it to go away no matter what I do, and I can’t figure it out. Maybe if I know what it is then it’ll be a little more bearable.”

Ed examined Nico, contemplating. The kid seemed near desperate, so that feeling that he had must not have been very pleasant. On the other hand…

“The secret I have could get me court-martialed. How can I trust you not to tell anyone?”

“I guess there really isn’t anything I can do to make you trust me, but I’m taking a big risk by trusting you too.” Nico said. “You have my word that I won’t tell anyone, not even my friends. And I expect the same from you.”

Edward found himself beginning to be impressed by Nico. Most of the students were afraid of him, but Nico didn’t hesitate to speak his mind. And he could tell by his eyes that Nico was no stranger to hardship.

“Alright.” He said finally. “I’ll trust you for now. But if you tell anyone about this, you should know that you may never get that trust back.”

Nico nodded. “The same goes for you.”

“You said that you knew the feeling had to do with death. I’m guessing that you’re feeling my Gate.”

“Gate?” Nico asked in confusion.

“Your Gate is what allows you to perform alchemy. Or you could even be feeling Truth.”

“Truth? And what does this have to do with death?” Nico still sounded confused.

“It’s complicated.” Ed sighed. “When I was younger, I…tried to bring my mother back to life.” 

Nico’s eyes widened. “It didn’t work, did it?”

“Of course not! It’s not possible for the dead to come back. I made a stupid mistake. But when you attempt human transmutation, you are sent to the Gate, where Truth is. You gain knowledge in exchange for part of your body. That’s the simple version at least.”

Nico’s eyes widened even more. “So even though you weren’t looking for knowledge, you got it anyway? And this ‘truth’ takes part of your body?”

Ed nodded. “Basically.”

“So is that how you can perform alchemy without a circle? And…is that why your arm is metal?”

“Ah, so you did notice.” Edward replied. “I thought so. I was surprised that you didn’t tell the whole school.”

“Well, I told my friends, but that’s it,” Nico said. “I know it sounds ironic, but I figured you had your reasons for keeping it a secret. So is that how you lost your arm?”

“Well…kind of. It’s complicated.” Ed didn’t want to tell him about Alphonse yet; not unless he had to. “I’d rather not get into the details. I’ve answered your question. Now it’s your turn to explain.”

“Right. I guess it is. You probably aren’t going to believe me though, this story is pretty far-fetched.”

“I spent the last month adjusting to the fact that _magic_ is real. I doubt I can be surprised any more than that.”

_“What?!”_ As it turned out, Edward could be surprised more. “Are you _serious?!_ First magic, and now you’re telling me that _gods_ are real?! And have children?!”

“Yeah, I kinda thought you’d react like this.” Nico was sitting on the edge of his desk, absently swinging his legs. Ed thought that he looked suspiciously as if he were enjoying this.

“That Truth that I told you about,” Ed said. “One of the things he called himself was ‘god’. That just makes this whole thing even weirder.”

“Like I said, far-fetched.” Nico stopped swinging his legs. “So…do you believe me?”

Ed groaned. “I don’t even know what to believe at this point. You don’t really have a reason to be lying, and what you said makes sense…in a weird, unbelievable way, that is. But can’t I go even one month without everything I know being completely flipped around?”

Nico shrugged. “I should probably catch up to the others before they get suspicious.”

“Yeah, go on.” Ed waved his hand at the door.

_‘First magic and now this,’_ Ed thought as Nico exited. _‘I’m going to wake up soon, right?’_

~o~O~o~

“E-excuse me, professor? Professor?”

Edward was vaguely aware that someone was talking to him, but he didn’t want to be bothered with responding.

“Professor!”

“What?!” He snapped, looking up from his book. The student took a hasty step back.

“I-I’m sorry to bother you sir, but–could you–I mean–I wanted to know if you could help me understand something?” The last part was said in a rush, and the young girl shrunk back a bit more.

Upon closer examination, Ed saw that she was one of the students in his first-year class.

“It’s fine. What do you need?”

The first year nervously stepped forward and laid out her parchment on the table. “All of what you said about what causes a rebound. I paid attention in class, I promise! I even took notes! I just don’t really understand it.” She fidgeted anxiously.

_‘I guess I didn’t realize that the younger students probably have more trouble with understanding.’_ Ed thought as he began his explanation. _‘I’m teaching all the students the same thing, but the first years obviously aren’t as smart as the sixth years. I never thought about it because I started learning this even younger than them. Maybe I should tone it down for the younger classes.’_

Ten minutes later, the girl; who had introduced herself as Susan White; was nodding in understanding.

“It makes sense now. Thank you, sir!”

Ed nodded. “Sure. No problem.”

“Oh, in that case…” She hesitated. “Do you think you could help my friends out too?”

She gestured towards the table over, where a boy and a girl were sitting, not-so-discreetly throwing awed glances at the two of them.

“They were too afraid of you to come over,” Susan explained. “We heard that you didn’t like to be bothered when you’re reading. I told them that you couldn’t be as scary as some people say, but they didn’t listen. So, could you help them?”

“Yeah…I guess so.” Edward replied.

Susan bounced over to her friends, beaming. A few seconds later Ed found himself in the middle of an impromptu tutoring session. Susan’s and her friends had gotten over their initial nervousness and were now unafraid to ask all the questions that were on their mind. Ed was annoyed at first, but he eventually found that he didn’t mind their questions quite that much.

_‘Maybe I should pay more attention to how the younger students are doing. I don’t want them to fail because I forgot that they aren’t geniuses.’_ Ed allowed himself a small smile as he went back to his studying.

~o~O~o~

“Er, professor?”

For the second time that day, Edward found himself interrupted in the middle of his research. But this time, he had been expecting it. Looking forward to it, actually.

“Oh good, you aren’t late.” Edward looked up, grinning, at the six students who had entered the classroom.

“Professor, if you don’t mind me asking,” Hermione began. “What did you do to the classroom?” 

The several desks that had occupied the room seemed to have vanished, replaced by a large table in the center of the room. In reality, Ed had transmuted all of the desks together into one large table-like structure.

“The desks were in the way. This is much better for what we’re going to be doing.”

“And…what are we going to be doing?” Ron ventured.

Ed’s grin widened. “Simple. You take turns attacking me, without magic, one at a time. As soon as you land a hit, you can go. Or after you’ve been trying for thirty minutes each, whichever comes first. I don’t want to be here all night.”

Ed noted the reactions of each of his victims. Hermione and Ron looked apprehensive, and Harry looked nervous but determined. The three ‘demigods’ didn’t look worried in the slightest. The three of them looked at him as if to say, ‘we’ve faced worse, you don’t scare us’.

_‘Good. At least they may be a challenge.’_

“Thalia, you can go first. The rest of you stay out of the way.”

Thalia stepped forward, a determined look in her eyes. “Any rules I should know about, _sir?_ ”

“No magic from you, and no alchemy from me.”

Student and teacher faced each other. Ed could see that Thalia had fighting experience, which made sense according to what Nico had told him. From what he could see, she was probably more comfortable with a weapon in her hand.

_‘I’ll have to be careful; I don’t want to hit her with my automail.’_

“Whenever you’re ready,” Edward said. “Remember, I’m just defending. I won’t be attacking you.”

Thalia moved forward quickly, probably hoping to catch him off guard. She sidestepped to the left and threw a punch with her left hand, aiming to get around his guard. Ed blocked her easily. Without pausing, Thalia brought her right foot up, going for where his now exposed chest. Ed blocked with his left hand and stepped to the right, out of her range.

It was safe to say that Edward was fairly impressed. Thalia was fast, and she thought well on her feet. She wasn’t as good as Teacher, of course, but Edward suspected that she would be more formidable with a weapon in her hand. She was managing pretty well without though.

Thalia threw two punches in quick succession, then rolled under his guard, coming up behind him. Ed turned around in time to catch her foot that had been aimed at his back. He released her foot, pushing her off balance.

Thalia didn’t pause for an instant. They continued for at least fifteen minutes, and Thalia showed no signs of tiring. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were watching with wide eyes. Nico and Percy were less impressed, no doubt used to seeing Thalia fight. They didn’t look at all surprised when Thalia managed to get around his guard and land a hit.

“Impressive.” Ed said, grinning at Thalia. “You’re pretty good.”

Thalia smirked, barely winded. “I’ve had plenty of practice.” She joined her friends at the back of the room.

“Let’s see how the rest of you compare.”

Out of the five, only Percy and Nico were able to land a blow within the time limit. The other three…well, they pretty much just got beaten up. Edward made sure to go easy on them, considering they had a whole month of this ahead of them. He had to be extra careful with his automail. It could do lasting damage if he didn’t pay attention.

“Alright, we’re done for tonight,” Ed said. “You can go back to your rooms now.”

Harry, Ron, and Hermione breathed sighs of relief as they exited. Edward gave Nico a pointed look as they exited. _I’m trusting you, demigod._ Nico returned his gaze with a look of his own. _And I’m trusting you, alchemist._ They gave each other a small nod, and an understanding of sorts passed between them. _Don’t break that trust. You may not get it back._

~o~O~o~

“Hey, Professor Elric!”

Edward looked up from his book with an inward groan. This was the fifth student to interrupt him in the past hour.

“I assume you want help with your homework?” He asked with a sigh.

“Yes sir, if it’s not to much trouble that is.” The boy skidded to a halt in front of the table.

_‘You help one, and the rest come running.’_ Ed grumbled internally. _‘And it’s only been one day since I helped that girl. One freakin day!’_

Edward took care of the boy and sent him off as quickly as possible. He was able to keep reading for barely five minutes. 

“Oi, Professor Elric!”

_‘This is going to be a very long day, isn’t it.’_

~o~O~o~

“So, I heard you were tutoring students in the library!” Remus’s normally cheery voice sounded worn and tired.

“I still don’t know how that happened,” Ed complained, reaching for the food. “I helped one person, and all of a sudden I’m being swarmed every time I step into the library!”

Remus laughed. “They were probably afraid of you before. I heard that you can have quite the temper.”

Ed grumbled a response that was muffled by the food in his mouth.

“If it makes you feel any better, you seem to have a better reputation now.”

“What do you mean?”

“You used to be ‘the short teenaged foreign teacher’–”

“I’M NOT SHORT!!”

“–And now you’re ‘the teacher who helps anyone with homework’,” Remus continued, ignoring Ed’s outburst.

“So what kind of reputation do you have?” Edward asked.

“Hmm…I don’t know,” Remus speculated. “Probably ‘the teacher who’s not going to last the year’ if I had to guess.”

“Why is that?” Ed asked in confusion.

“No has lasted for longer than one year as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor in a long time.” Remus explained. “Some people say that the positions cursed.”

Ed snorted. “How could you even curse a _position?_ ”

“Stranger things have been done,” Remus said.

Edward rolled his eyes. _‘Cursed teaching positions? What are they going to curse next? …Actually, I probably shouldn’t ask that question. As long as they keep their curses away from me and my stuff, I don’t care what they curse.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That fight scene between Ed and Thalia was pretty hard to write. I took Tae Kwon Do for several years, so I know something about hand-to-hand fighting, but putting it down in words is another thing altogether. You’ll have to let me know how I did. Thanks for reading!


	14. You Really Put the 'Pre' in 'Interpretation'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which progress is made

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Concerning FMA:B, it has come to my attention (via the lovely Shadowlit) that some of you, depending on whether or not you watch the dub, sub, read the manga, whatever–may not know what 'fuhrer' means. Whoops. Sorry about that. I believe that in some translation, the word is 'president' rather than 'fuhrer' but the meaning is pretty much the same. So Fuhrer King Bradley is the same as President King Bradley. Again, sorry for the confusion I may have caused.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don’t own the song ‘This is War’ by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

*<*<*>*>* - Begin/end flashback

 

** Percy **

 

“Nico, I forgot to ask yesterday; what did Professor Elric want to talk to you about?” Ron asked as they walked to the library.

“He wanted to know how I got into his room without using the door.” Nico replied.

“What did you tell him?” Thalia asked, instantly on the alert.

“I used the mist.” Nico replied. “Easy.”

“You used the what?” Harry asked.

“The mist,” Percy said. “It’s like a veil that mortals can’t see through, and it hides mythological things, like monsters. Once you learn to manipulate it, you can use it to convince mortals of all sorts of things.”

“I’d like to look at the prophecy again, now that we have time,” Hermione said as they entered the library.

Thalia drew out the parchment that they had written the prophecy on. Hermione snatched it up eagerly and spread it onto the table.

“Alright, the first line; ‘a warning to the people’. That seems pretty straightforward. Obviously, it means that this is a warning, right?”

“That makes sense,” Harry said with a shrug.

“Prophecies often have double meanings,” Thalia said. “But you’re right, that does seem pretty straightforward.”

“Alright, next line; ‘the good and the evil’. I guess that means that the warning is to not only the good; but also the evil, which could mean that whatever is coming is a danger to us all.”

“Great,” Percy said sarcastically. “So whatever we’re going to be facing is a danger to the evil people too. That sounds wonderful.”

Hermione ignored him. “Next; ‘this is becoming war’.”

“War…” Ron said in a hushed voice. “Does it really mean that there's going to be a war?”

“Well, technically this line says ‘becoming war’,” Nico said. “Which means that it hasn’t started yet.”

“Becoming war,” Hermione said thoughtfully. “Which could mean that there are events happening right now that will directly cause war.” She tapped the parchment. “You see how the wording is different three times? First is ‘this is becoming war’, then comes ‘this is already war’, and then last; ‘this is war’.”

“Aren’t those last two the same?” Percy asked.

Thalia’s brow furrowed in concentration. “I don’t know. They seem like it, but they must not be. Prophecies are cryptic like that.”

“We’ll get to that,” Hermione said. “The next line; ‘to the soldier, the civilian’. Who is that referring to?”

“The soldier could be Professor Elric,” Harry suggested. “He is in the military, right?”

“That could be,” Nico said. “But it seems too obvious. There could be another meaning to it. But then again, sometimes prophecies are literal. You never know.”

“What about the civilian?” Thalia put in. “That could be anyone!”

“You’re right,” Hermione said. “It could be referring to one specific civilian; or all civilians in general.”

“We don’t have any way of knowing right now.” Thalia pointed out. “Read the next line, Hermione.”

“Right. It’s; ‘the martyr, the victim’.” Hermione shuddered. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“No kidding,” Nico said. “That means that at least one person is going to die.”

“Not just that they’re going to die,” Hermione said. “A martyr is someone who is killed specifically because of their beliefs.”

There was an uncomfortable silence as they considered this.

“What’s the next line, Hermione?” Thalia asked, breaking the silence.

“It’s the next variation; ‘this is already war’.”

“What do you think it means by ‘already’ war?” Ron asked. “Why is the ‘already’ necessary?”

“Maybe…” Hermione began hesitantly, fiddling with her quill, “Maybe it means that no one expected war, or at least not so soon. So when it says ‘already’ war it means that even though it was thought to be a long ways off, it’s come already.”

“That makes sense, I guess.” Harry said.

“Go on to the next line, Hermione.” Nico said. “We don’t have a lot of time.”

“Let’s see…‘a warning to the prophets’. Could that be about the Oracle?”

“Maybe. But it could also be about Trelawney,” Ron pointed out.

“Yeah,” Percy said. “That would make sense with the next line, ‘the liar, the honest’. Trelawney could be ‘the liar’ and the Oracle could be ‘the honest’.”

Nico nodded. “That’s a pretty strong possibility. But, ‘the liar, the honest’ could not be in reference to the prophets at all.”

“Let’s move on for now,” Hermione said. “Next is; ‘it’s the moment of truth’. You three said that you thought that was about you revealing yourselves to us, right?”

“Right,” Thalia confirmed. “But it could also mean that we’re about to discover a great truth. Or both.”

Nico’s eyes widened and his grip on the table tightened. For a split second, a look of realization came over his face; and then it was gone.

“Nico? Did you figure something out?” Percy asked, noticing.

“No. Nothing.” He replied.

Percy frowned, but didn’t push him. If Nico didn’t want to speak, he wouldn’t be able to make him.

“Right after that comes ‘the moment to lie’.” Ron pointed out. “That must mean that someone has to make the decision to lie about something.” He gave the demigods a pointed look.

Percy raised his hands. “What are you looking at us for? We already spilled our secrets to you!”

“Possibly against our better judgment…” Nico muttered.

“SO, moving on,” Hermione said quickly before an argument could break out. “The next section is; ‘the moment to live; the moment to die; the moment to fight’.”

“That’s the second time that this prophecy says that someone is going to die,” Percy said. “This is not a very cheery prophecy.”

“Prophecies are _never_ cheery.” Nico specified.

“Well, this one _is_ especially depressing.” Thalia admitted. “But at least it also says ‘the moment to live’ which must mean that at least some of us are going to live. And then ‘the moment to fight’; we already knew that.”

“You mean you came here knowing that you would fight?” Ron asked. “How did you know that? Hogwarts is one of the safest places you could go!”

“It doesn’t matter. We end up fighting no matter where we go.” Thalia said, easily covering her slip up.

Hermione turned back to the prophecy again. “These last lines are the most confusing. ‘to the edge of the earth; from the last to the first’. What do you suppose that means?”

Thalia tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Hmm… ‘to the edge of the earth’ could mean that the war will spread all over the world.” She shuddered. “That’s not a pleasant thought. And ‘from the last to the first–’ that could be saying that everyone will have to fight.” She shook her head. “Like we said, prophecies are never simple. The truth of a prophecy is never fully clear until the events have come to pass.”

“Then what’s the point of a prophecy!?” Ron cried in frustration.

“They can provide useful information,” Percy said. “Sometimes. If they feel like it.”

“The last two lines aren’t that complicated either. ‘you will fight to the death; this is war’.” Hermione read the last lines of the prophecy.

“Three death warnings in the same prophecy,” Percy said. “It’s always three, isn’t it.”

“Usually,” Thalia agreed.

Silence spread across the table as the six students considered the prophecy. The quiet sounds of the library continued in the background. Percy had never really enjoyed libraries. Being in a library meant sitting still and studying books; two things that he did not excel at.

The library was quiet and calm, the peace settling over everything like a blanket. A blanket that Percy wanted to throw off a cliff. He tapped his fingers on the table, trying to dispel his urge to move. He observed the rest of the library. There weren’t that many people occupying it. Percy briefly noted that Professor Elric was sitting at his normal table before his gaze wandered to the rest of the occupants.

Two older boys studying in the corner. A younger girl and boy, possibly siblings, searching for books among the shelves. Three girls sitting at the table next to Professor Elric’s, but they didn’t seem to be studying. Suddenly, the blanket of silence was ripped off.

“THAT’S IT! I’M DONE!”

Percy’s head snapped up, and he unconsciously reached into his pocket where his sword was stored in pen form.

“I’m _done._ Finished. I don’t care if I’m a teacher, I am SO TIRED OF THIS!”

Percy looked over at the source of the noise, his hand moving away from his pocket. Unsurprisingly, the source of the noise was Professor Elric, who seemed to have finally snapped. Percy idly wondered if someone had called him short again.

“STOP asking me for help with your homework! Once was fine, but this is _ridiculous!_ If you can’t figure it out, then QUIT! I’m not going to help you with _every little thing._ Do it for yourself for once, you–”

Percy didn’t know what he said after that, because the translation spell seemed unable to translate it. Either it couldn’t, or it chose not to. Percy was inclined to believe the latter. Professor Elric had finished his rant and stormed out of the library; startling a group of second-years who were entering, who wisely jumped to the side.

There was silence throughout the library, but not the blanket kind; the stunned, unsure kind. Madame Pince had jumped up from her desk, but hadn’t gotten any farther than that. She was standing there frozen, staring at the door where the hurricane had exited. She regained her composure and sat back down at her desk. The rest of the library took this as a signal to return to their work.

“Well,” Harry said, breaking the silence at their table. “That was…interesting.”

Ron shook his head. “It was bound to happen eventually.”

Thalia rolled her eyes. “C’mon. We have another class soon.”

~o~O~o~

That night, the demigods huddled around the fire while their friends slept. They knew that they would have to be even more careful now. If Harry, Ron, and Hermione found them sneaking around again, it would be even harder to regain their trust.

“Alright, what now?” Thalia began. “We used the prophecy. Now what do we do?”

“I think we should look into why Professor Dumbledore decided to add alchemy as a class,” Nico suggested. “We’re almost one hundred percent sure that the Time-Jumper caused that. If we can find out what caused Professor Dumbledore to make that decision, then we may get a lead.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Percy agreed. “But how are we going to find that out without asking Dumbledore?”

“We have to ask him,” Thalia said. “He won’t question us because of the letter from Chiron. And we _need_ a lead.”

Nico and Percy nodded. “Yeah.” Percy said. “If we don’t find the Time-Jumper soon, it’ll be really bad. He could cause the end of the world for all we know!”

Nico nodded grimly. “Unfortunately, you’re right. Let’s talk to Dumbledore.”

~o~O~o~

“Now, what may I help you with?” Professor Dumbledore smiled at them from across his desk.

“Well, sir,” Thalia began. They had agreed for her to speak. “We wanted to know why you decided to add alchemy as a class this year.”

“Oh, well that’s quite simple,” Dumbledore replied. “Someone at the ministry suggested it, and I thought it was a wonderful idea.”

“Who was it that suggested it?” Thalia asked, leaning forward.

“It was–well, that’s odd. Now that you mention it, I don’t remember. That is very strange.”

The demigods exchanged glances. “Was there any particular reason that you chose Professor Elric?” Thalia asked hopefully.

“Actually, I asked that a different alchemist be sent, but he was unavailable. Mr. Elric is his son, so he was sent instead. I’m afraid I don’t have any more information than that.”

“Thank you, sir.” Thalia said as they stood to leave.

“Not at all. Tell Chiron I said hello next time you see him, would you?”

“We will, sir,” Thalia said with a smile.

The demigods hurried back to their rooms before their absence could be noticed.

“That wasn’t very helpful,” Percy said.

“We did get some information though,” Nico said. “We know that the Time-Jumper definitely wanted an alchemist here, and even infiltrated the ministry to make it happen. The question is, why?”

“And,” Thalia added, “did the Time-Jumper want just any alchemist, or a specific one?”

“And,” Percy jumped in, “if the Time-Jumper did want a certain alchemist, does that mean he infiltrated the Amestrian government too?”

“Agh!” Thalia exclaimed. “We just keep running into more questions instead of getting answers!”

“What are we supposed to do now?” Nico asked. “We’ve hit _another_ dead end.”

Percy ran his hand through his hair. “It’s past midnight. Let’s talk more in the morning after we’ve had some sleep.”

The three demigods slipped into their beds with dejected thoughts and downcast spirits. They shared the same prevailing thought. _‘We need something to go off of; anything, just give us anything!’_

~o~O~o~

“First Hogsmeade visit is tomorrow,” Percy commented idly.

It was a rainy afternoon, and the six friends were relaxing in front of the common room fire. Except for Hermione, who was scribbling madly on some homework assignment. She had been doing that quite a lot lately.

“Yeah,” Harry said glumly. “And we’re stuck here.”

“Ah, do I hear the sound of a friend in need?”

Percy turned to see that Dean Thomas had approached them, unnoticed. He seemed to have a talent for showing up whenever Thalia was around.

“You know Harry, I’m pretty handy with a quill. I could forge a signature for you if you like.” He turned and winked at Thalia. “That’s only one of my many talents.”

Thalia rolled her eyes. “I’m supposed to be impressed that you’re a forger? You know that’s illegal, right?”

“It doesn’t matter, anyway.” Harry said. “I already told McGonagall that my uncle didn’t sign it.”

“That’s too bad. Well, if you ever need anything forged, I’ll be happy to help!” Dean sauntered off, throwing one more flirtatious smirk towards Thalia.

~o~O~o~

“Don’t be so depressed, Harry,” Percy said. “After all, we’re stuck here too!”

“Yeah, I suppose,” Harry said. “But wouldn’t you rather be at Hogsmeade with everyone else?”

“I’m sure it’s overrated,” Thalia replied easily.

Percy held back a snort of disbelief. He and Nico both knew that Thalia was aching to get outside of the school boundaries. They all knew that they had to wait until the next Hogsmeade weekend; when they could sneak out with Harry, but it was killing her to stay confined. Percy figured that she might even start going out into the Forbidden Forest to practice with her bow.

“I think I’m going to head to the library,” Harry said, not looking cheered up in the slightest. He walked towards the library, looking for all the world as if he had a rain cloud over his head.

“So…what are we going to do all day?” Nico asked.

Thalia shrugged. “Not really much we can do. All we’re supposed to do is sit back and make sure everything happens like it’s supposed to.”

“Don’t you think it’s odd that the only thing that’s changed is alchemy class being added?” Percy pointed out.

“The Time-Jumper is probably being very careful,” Thalia said. “He probably studied these years way more than we did, and who knows how long he’s been planning this.”

“Don’t you think we should give him a name?” Percy said.

“Why would we do that?” Nico asked.

Percy shrugged. “It’s just kinda weird to call him ‘The Time-Jumper’ all the time. Besides, we’re in a crowded common room most of the time; including right now, and speaking Greek all the time is pretty conspicuous. What if someone overhears us?”

“That’s true,” Thalia said. “How about…Bob?”

“Thalia!!” Percy cried. “How DARE you defile Bob’s wonderful name by associating it with this EVIL fiend?!”

Thalia’s eyebrows shot up and she raised her hands. “Okay, okay, we’ll pick something different!”

“Besides, you can’t pick a boy’s name,” Nico said. “What if the Time-Jumper is a girl?”

“Well what do _you_ propose, oh wise one?” Thalia asked dryly.

“We need a gender-neutral name, obviously. Like…Jesse. Or maybe Raleigh?”

Percy snorted. “Raleigh? Seriously?”

Nico huffed. “Well, I haven't seen you suggesting anything, Mr. Critical!”

Percy scrunched up his face in concentration, tapping his fingers on the table. “Aha! Alex!” He grinned.

“What’s wrong with Jesse?” Nico asked, offended.

Thalia rolled her eyes at them. “Jeez you guys, just pick a name already.”

The two boys turned to her. “You’re the tiebreaker, Thalia.” Percy announced. “Which name do you like better; Alex or Jesse?”

“I’m not getting involved in this. Do rock-paper-scissors for all I care.”

After an intense match of rock-paper-scissors, followed by several rematches, the gender-neutral and non-offending name of ‘Alex’ was chosen for the Time-Jumper. Nico was still grumbling about losing when the portrait-door swung open and Harry entered, in a much better mood than before.

“Harry, you look cheery!” Percy said. “Or at least less miserable.”

“I had tea with Professor Lupin,” Harry explained. “But now I’m worried about him.”

“Why’s that?” Thalia asked, knowing perfectly well why.

“Snape gave him some sort of potion. I don’t know what it was, but it was smoking and Lupin acted like it tasted awful, but he drank the whole thing.”

“I’m sure Snape wouldn’t actually poison Lupin,” Percy said, placing a look of mock-concern on his face.

Of course, they knew that it was nothing but a wolfsbane potion and would not harm Professor Lupin in the slightest, but they couldn’t very well tell Harry that. When Hermione and Ron returned from Hogsmeade, they had a quite different reaction.

“ _Lupin drank it?_ ” Ron gasped. “Is he mad?!”

“I don’t think that Snape would try to poison Lupin in front of Harry, right?” Hermione said anxiously as they hurried towards the great hall.

“Maybe,” Harry said as they entered the Great Hall.

The Great Hall had been spectacularly decorated for Halloween. Hundreds of candle-filled pumpkins lit the room, swarms of bats flew overhead, and flaming orange streamers snaked around above everyone’s heads.

It seemed to Percy that the food was even better than usual. He knew that the happy atmosphere would be ruined when the Gryffindors discovered that the Fat Lady had been slashed to pieces, but he didn’t let that put a damper on his mood. He laughed and celebrated with his friends, not worrying about what was to come. _‘After all,’_ he thought, _‘I know that we aren’t really in danger at all.’_

 

|

o

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O

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o

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_Joy. Real, heartwarming, uplifting, joy. What a feeling._

_As your mouth curves into a grin, you never know if it will be the last time. As you throw back your head and laughter rings from your throat, you never know if it will be the last time. So as you delight in the feelings of family and friendship; cherish them. For you never know if it will be the last time._


	15. You Really Put the 'Grin' in 'Chagrin'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which dementors cause fainting, again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I didn't want to just copy-and-paste for PoA, I omitted the discovery that the Fat Lady had been destroyed. We all know it happened, and it would have played out exactly the same. Some of the dialogue in the beginning is directly copied, but I try to avoid that as much as possible.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don’t own the song ‘This is War’ by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

*<*<*>*>* - Begin/end flashback

 

** Harry **

 

“The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle,” Professor Dumbledore informed the students. “I’m afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want the prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the hall and I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge.” He turned to Percy (Weasley), who was looking very proud of himself. “Any disturbances should be reported to me immediately. Send word with one of the ghosts.” Dumbledore turned to exit, but paused. “Oh yes, you’ll be needing…” With a few flicks of his wand, the long tables were moved against the walls and replaced with hundreds of comfortable-looking sleeping bags. “Sleep well,” Professor Dumbledore said as he left the Great Hall.

“C’mon,” Ron said. They each grabbed a sleeping bag and dragged it over to a corner as Percy (Weasley) shouted about lights out.

“Do you think Black is still in the castle?” Hermione whispered anxiously.

“Dumbledore must think so or they wouldn’t be searching,” Ron pointed out.

All through the Great Hall, people were asking the same question: _“How did he get in?”_

“Maybe he Apparated in?” Ron suggested.

“You can’t Apparate or Disapparate inside Hogwarts grounds.”

Hermione looked at Thalia in surprise. “So I’m not the only one who’s read _Hogwarts: A History._ ”

“The lights are going out now!” Percy (Weasley) called. “Everyone in their sleeping bags, and no more talking!”

~o~O~o~

For the next few days, Sirius Black was all that anyone talked about. Theories for how he had entered the castle were circulating, each more ridiculous than the last. What really bothered Harry was that the teachers had taken to tailing him everywhere, and ‘conveniently’ bumping into him in hallways. It was starting to drive him crazy.

He wasn’t even free at Quidditch practice; Professor McGonagall had assigned Madame Hooch to oversee each practice. Harry didn’t let that put a damper on his enthusiasm. Gryffindor’s first match against Slytherin was approaching, and Harry was looking forward to giving Malfoy a serious beating. Well, he was before the change in schedule, that is.

“What do you mean we aren’t playing against Slytherin?!” Ron cried, outraged.

Harry fell into a chair by the fire. “They’re using Malfoy’s arm as an excuse not to play, but they really just don’t want to risk playing in this weather.”

“His arm?!” Ron said angrily. “There’s nothing wrong with his bloody arm!”

“Yeah, but we can’t prove it,” Harry said wearily.

“All the same, I can’t wait to see a Quidditch match,” Percy said. “You’ve been going on about them for so long that they must be pretty exciting.”

“I still can’t believe that you’ve never seen a Quidditch match,” Ron said, shaking his head.

Thalia shrugged. “I’m sure we weren’t missing out _too_ badly.”

“You’ll see,” Ron said confidently. “Speaking of missing out, what has Dean been up to lately? Is he still convinced that he can make you fall in love?”

Thalia groaned. “You have no idea how annoying he is! Yesterday he told me that he was ‘convinced that he could rediscover the dormant stirrings of love that must be lost somewhere in my heart’s labyrinth’.” Thalia glared at them all as they tried to hold back their laughter. “Thanks a lot, Nico.”

Nico grinned, unabashed. “You have to give him credit for trying.”

“If he tries any harder he’s going to regret it.”

~o~O~o~

Harry’s eyes snapped opening. After a few disoriented moments, he realized he was in the hospital wing. The mud-splattered Gryffindor Quidditch team plus Ron, Hermione, Percy, Nico, and Thalia were crowded around his bed.

Fred (or George, it was even harder to tell them apart with all the mud), was the first to speak. “Harry! How’re you feeling?”

All of Harry’s memories came rushing back. The storm, the Grim, the Snitch–and then the dementors. Harry jerked up so quickly his head spun.

“What happened?”

“You fell at least fifty feet,” Nico informed him.

“We thought you’d died,” Alicia said shakily.

Hermione made a squeaking noise, seemingly not recovered yet.

Madame Pomfrey only allowed the team to stay long enough to tell him about their defeat, and then she ushered them out the door with a disapproving look. Ron, Hermione, Percy, Nico, and Thalia stayed.

“Hey, at least you aren’t alone!” Percy said.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Harry asked.

Thalia stepped aside and gestured towards the bed next to Harry’s. “Professor Elric fainted again too. Everybody was so focused on you falling off your broom that not many people noticed. Professor Lupin was sitting next to him and got him up here.”

“Is he asleep?” Harry asked, feeling bad for not being quieter.

“No,” Ron said. “He hasn’t woken up yet.”

“You mean he’s still unconscious from the dementors? Is he okay?”

Hermione had regained her voice and answered his question. “A really bad reaction to a dementor can leave a person unconscious for quite a while. He’ll probably wake up soon.”

“Did anyone get my Nimbus?” Harry asked, realizing that his broomstick was nowhere to be seen.

His friends fell silent.

“What?” Harry asked, dreading the answer for the second time that night.

“Well…when you fell off, it got blown away,” Hermione hesitantly explained. “And it–it hit the Whomping Willow.”

“And, well,” Ron picked up. “You know the Whomping Willow doesn’t like being hit.”

Percy slowly picked up a bag that had been at his feet and revealed the shattered remains of Harry’s faithful broomstick.

“…oh.” Was all that Harry could say.

“Alright, that’s enough visiting.” Madame Pomfrey began shooing them out the door. “He needs his rest, you can come back tomorrow.”

They reluctantly headed out the door, promising to visit first thing in the morning. Harry sat in the hospital bed, now alone except for the unconscious Professor Elric in the next bed over. He was thinking about going to sleep for lack of anything better to do when the aforementioned professor let out a small groan and opened his eyes.

“Wha…” He sat up, holding his head.

Madame Pomfrey was at his bed in an instant, armed with chocolate. “Eat this.” She shoved the chocolate into his mouth before he had time to protest. “Honestly, those dementors are going to be the death of you! You were out for even longer than last time!”

Professor Elric scowled. “–––––– dementors and their nightmare-inducing ––––––– and ––––––– wizards with their –––––– magic. Can I go now?”

Harry blinked. Had the translation spell stopped working for a few words? He recalled it doing something similar in the library; not translating a certain word.

“No, you most certainly may not!” Madame Pomfrey pushed Professor Elric back onto the bed he had been trying to get out of. “You are going to stay here tonight, and you can leave tomorrow _if_ you rest like you’re supposed to."

“What! But–”

“No.”

“But I need to–”

“No buts.” Madame Pomfrey marched into her office, leaving no room for argument.

Professor Elric turned, noticing Harry for the first time.

“So you got stuck in here too?”

Harry nodded. “Fell fifty feet from my broom.”

“Fifty feet, huh? Impressive. Add that to my list of reasons to never get on a freakin broom for transportation.”

“You have a _list?_ ” Harry asked, shocked. “But flying is amazing! Why wouldn't you want to try it?”

“Well, besides the fact that it breaks plenty of laws of aerodynamics, it’s also a _broom_ for crying out loud. Why would any sane person trust a stick with straw tied to the end to keep them from falling?!” Professor Elric was on a roll now and showed no signs of stopping. “Not to mention it doesn’t look all that comfortable to sit on for long periods of time. And don’t get me started on your weird sport that you do on it. What is even the point of that?!”

“If you don’t like Quidditch then why were you at the match in the first place?” Harry asked, cutting him off before he could continue his rant.

Professor Elric huffed. “I didn’t want to be. I could be in the library getting research done right now, but _no._ Professor Lupin _insisted_ that I come to ‘at least one match’ and dragged me along. See if I ever let him talk me into anything ever again.”

“Oh.” For the second time that night, Harry wasn’t sure what to say. “Uh…Sorry about that.”

There were a few moments of silence as both boys sat contemplating their predicaments. After a while, Harry realized that Professor Elric had fallen asleep. With nothing else to occupy him, Harry was left to gaze up at the ceiling, recalling the memories brought to the surface by the dementors.

He knew now that the screams he heard were of his dying parents. Knowing did nothing to help; in fact, it did the opposite. Everyone shuddered at the mention of the dementors, and everyone agreed that they were horrible. But no one else fainted by going near them.

Harry glanced at the bed next to him. No one except Professor Elric, at least. Knowing that he wasn’t the only one affected so strongly made Harry feel a little better. And it seemed that Professor Elric was affected even worse than him. It made Harry wonder what sort of horrible things had happened to him that made him react so badly.

But then again, if Harry had fainted because of something he could barely even remember, he didn’t think he wanted to know what terrifying memories Professor Elric had. Harry stared at the moonlight that drifted through the window, his thoughts muddled together until he finally drifted into sleep.

~o~O~o~

Harry was awoken early the next morning by quiet chattering to his right. Looking over, he saw Professor Elric sitting up in his bed, speaking in low tones to a young girl that Harry didn’t recognize. She had long black hair that hung down her back in two ponytails, and looked young enough to be a first year.

Harry saw that the two had spread parchments and books all over the bed, and Professor Elric seemed to be explaining something. Harry listened closer, trying to hear what they were talking about.

_‘Oh, he’s helping her with alchemy homework. Huh. I thought he was done with that after he blew up in the library.’_

Professor Elric didn’t look annoyed; he was gesturing towards the paper with the traces of a smile on his face. From what Harry could see of the girl’s face, she seemed to be enjoying herself. Suddenly the door swung open, startling the teacher and student. Thalia, Hermione, and Ron stopped short as they entered.

“Oh, sorry about that,” Hermione said. “We didn’t mean to interrupt you, Professor.”

“That’s alright, I understand it now.” The girl stood up, gathering her supplies. “Thanks again, sir!”

“No problem,” he replied, smiling.

“You’re a first-year, aren’t you?” Harry asked, curious. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.”

She turned, noticing that he was awake. “That’s right.” She held out her hand. “Susan White, first-year Slytherin. Pleased to meet you.”

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Thalia hurried to introduce themselves. Susan thanked Professor Elric again before hurrying out the door.

“Where’re Percy and Nico?” Harry asked as she left.

“They’re doing homework,” Thalia explained. “They’ll be up to visit later.”

“Speaking of homework,” Hermione began. And, to Harry dismay, she hefted the school bag she had been carrying. “You have plenty.”

Harry groaned. “C’mon Ron why’d you let her bring that?”

“Sorry mate.” Ron shook his head apologetically. “She was very insistent.”

“And for good reason!” Hermione said. “You have a potions essay you need to have finished by Monday, and you’ve been putting it off all week. Now you have plenty of time to do it.”

It was clear that Hermione wasn’t going to let him slack off during his stay in the hospital wing. She pushed him to do his homework for an hour, until Madame Pomfrey allowed Professor Elric to leave, with much rejoicing from the latter. When he was gone, Hermione leaned closer.

“I was thinking about the prophecy some more last night. You remember how at the end it says ‘you will fight to the death’?”

When Harry nodded, she continued. “In a one-on-one duel, a fight to the death is different from a normal duel. If a duel is to the death, then that means the two people will keep fighting until one of them is dead, no negotiations whatsoever; just like the name says. So I think that when the prophecy says ‘you will fight to the death’, it doesn’t just mean that people are going to die in the fight.”

Hermione took a deep breath before continuing. “I think that it means that the war will go on until either an entire side is gone, or one of the leaders dies. No negotiations; the fight will only end when either the good or the evil is the only one left.” Hermione twisted her fingers together, trying to hide their shaking. “And I don’t need to explain why that would be bad.”

Harry swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. Ron and Thalia looked grim, Thalia especially. Harry got the feeling that she felt the gravity of the situation more than any of them.

“So what do we do?” Ron asked. “Should we tell Professor Dumbledore?”

“No.” Thalia said. “This is a demigod affair. We told you three because we trust you not to tell anyone else, and because we knew you could help us. But we can’t let it spread any further.”

“But if other people can help then–”

“No,” Thalia repeated firmly. “Trust me. Bad things happen when too many mortals get tangled up in the affairs of the gods.”

_‘Well that sounded ominous,’_ Harry thought. _‘Us mortals should keep our noses out, huh?’_

“Please, keep your promise and don’t tell anyone.” Thalia’s voice was softer. “We don’t want to put anyone else in danger.”

Thalia waited until the three of them had nodded. “Thank you,” she said, the seriousness leaving her face. “And Harry,” she said, turning to him, “You shouldn’t be ashamed that the dementors affect you like this. You’ve had terrible things happen in your past that most people here have never experienced. And that’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Harry nodded, though his spirits were only slightly lifted. Then the conversation turned to happier matters, as the friends tried to forget all about dementors, prophecies, and the feeling of dread that had encompassed them all not five minutes before. _‘After all,’_ Harry thought, _‘It’s not like we’re in any real danger right now.’_

 

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o

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O

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o

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_Sadness. Real, heart-wrenching, wretched sadness. What a feeling._

_As your eyes fill with tears, you never know if it will be the last time. As you bow your head and allow sobs to escape from your throat, you never know if it will be the last time. So as you huddle within the feelings of loneliness and despair; cherish them. For you never know if it will be the last time._


	16. You Really Put the 'Profess' in 'Professor'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which friendships are formed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up, all the alchemy talk in this chapter is based off of my knowledge from reading the manga/watching the show. If it’s not accurate, then let me know and I will do my best to remedy it.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don’t own the song ‘This is War’ by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

*<*<*>*>* - Begin/end flashback

 

** Edward **

“…so the ‘structural matrix’ is composed of the symbols, and all the symbols represent something, and that’s what causes something to change form?”

Edward nodded at the girl sitting across from him. “Basically. Also, the size and detail of whatever you want to transmute depends on the size and complexity of your circle.” Ed grabbed a spare paper from the disorderly library table and drew a simple transmutation circle. “This circle will transmute a small amount of stone into a perfect square. It’s a simple transmutation, so the structural matrix is also simple.”

Susan nodded, tapping the end of her quill against her chin. She was one of Ed’s more enthusiastic students; eager to learn and quite smart on top of it. Ed’s outburst in the library had scared off most of his students, but she had approached him the next day as if nothing had happened.

Edward wasn’t annoyed; he actually enjoyed spending time with her. She was eleven years old, four years younger than him, and she reminded him of Alphonse in some ways. Intelligent, curious, and with a sarcastic streak that hid behind a sweet personality. Maybe it was because he missed Al so much, but Ed found himself being drawn to the aspiring alchemist.

“Do you have any siblings, Susan?” Ed asked. It seemed that in all of their meetings, they only talked about alchemy. Normally Ed would be fine with that, but he wanted to get to know her more.

Susan glanced up, startled by the sudden subject change. “Yes sir, I have a brother who’s eight years older than me, and another younger sibling is due in two months.” She smiled proudly at the mention of the baby. “What about you, Professor?”

Ed frowned in annoyance. “Seriously, stop calling me ‘sir’ and ‘professor’. I’m fifteen, not thirty.”

“Right, sorry,” Susan said, a faint blush creeping up her cheeks. “I forgot.”

“It’s alright.” Ed returned to her question. “I have a brother. He’s a year younger than me.”

Susan brightened, her brown eyes gleaming with interest. “Is he an alchemist too?” She asked eagerly.

Edward nodded with a smile.

“Is he as good as you?”

“Not quite, but he’s still a great alchemist. He’s definitely a better fighter,” Ed added fondly.

“Does he beat you all the time then?” Susan asked mischievously.

“Every time,” Ed sighed with mock despair.

“Is he in the military like you?”

Ed froze. “No.” He replied quietly. “I would never let him carry a burden like that.”

Susan sensed his change in mood immediately. It didn’t stop her next question, but she did ask it in a more subdued manner than usual. “If you don’t mind me asking…why did you join the military?”

Under different circumstances, and with another person, Ed probably would have replied that it was none of their business and left it at that. But he knew Susan well enough by now to know that she wasn’t trying to pry; she just wanted to know him better.

“There is something I need to do,” he replied after a heartbeat of silence. “And the military has the resources to help me do it.” He kept his gaze fixed on the paper in front of him, and the quiet murmurings of the library were the only sounds for several moments.

Susan sensed not to question him any further, and changed the subject. “So do you still see your brother a lot?”

Ed sighed, a familiar ache of loneliness creeping back upon him. “Usually I do; we travel together for all of my missions. But he couldn’t come here with me.”

“You must miss him a lot then,” Susan said softly, scooting her chair closer to him. “My brother is a lot older than me, but we’re still really close. I missed him so much when he first moved out. It’s better now, but sometimes I wish I could have frozen time back when we were all living together.”

_‘Freeze time, huh?’_ Edward thought wistfully. _‘Yeah, I wish I could have done that. Back before mom died, and everything went wrong.’_

“But,” Susan said, a bright light coming back to her face. “If that had happened, then I wouldn’t be getting a younger sibling, and my brother would never have met his fiancé, and I would never have come to Hogwarts. So even if I miss him, I’m still glad that everything happened the way it did.” She smiled brightly at him, a hopeful look in her eyes.

_‘Oh,’_ Ed realized after a moment of her looking at him hopefully. _‘She’s trying to cheer me up.’_

“Yeah,” Ed said, blinking away his initial surprise. “You’re right. After all, if I hadn’t come here then I wouldn’t have met you, and I would have one less friend.” He returned her smile with a grin of his own, pleased to see her whole face light up.

Edward stood abruptly, pushing his chair back from the table, and began gathering the books and spare parchments. “I should get these back to the classroom before dinner.”

“Here, I’ll help carry them!” Susan eagerly began gathering supplies from the table.

“That’s alright, I can get it,” Ed assured her. “I’m sure you have better things to be doing.”

Susan shook her head. “No, I want to help.” She said it with such determination that Ed was surprised. She seemed to realize this, and blushed slightly. “I mean–well, it’s silly really, but–” She hesitated. “Well, I made a promise to always help anyone who needed it, no matter how small and no matter what the risk.” She looked at her feet. “I know, I sound ridiculous. There isn’t much I can do to help people, and I probably won’t ever make a difference, but I want to try.”

“Don’t be like that,” Ed scolded. “That promise is more than plenty of people would ever do.” He turned his head to smile at her around his books as they walked out of the library. “And besides, even little things like helping someone carry their books can make difference.”

Susan turned and smiled again, back to her cheery self. Unfortunately, that meant she wasn’t looking in front of her and almost ran into another first-year as they rounded the corner. The girl yelped and jumped out of the way, dropping her bag in her attempt to get out of their path.

“Oh, whoops!” Susan yelped, seeing that some of her books had spilled. “Do you need help with that?”

The other girl’s eyes widened in shock when she saw Susan and she scooted away. “N-no, I’m fine,” she squeaked. Hurriedly, she shoved her books in her bag. With a final frightened glance back, she practically ran down the hallway.

“Well that was odd,” Edward commented. He stopped when he saw that Susan had stopped, staring at the space where the girl had disappeared, her expression one of long-concealed sadness. “What’s wrong?” Ed asked, alarmed.

“It’s nothing.” Susan’s voice was quiet again, and her face told a different story.

Ed raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment.

“I know her,” Susan said abruptly. Ed kept silent and let her talk. “We weren’t friends, exactly; but our parents knew each other so we met up fairly often. We always talked about Hogwarts; what classes we were looking forward to, learning to ride a broom…and, of course, what house we wanted to be in.”

Susan’s voice trembled and she paused, her grip tightening on the books she was holding. “We both wanted to be in Ravenclaw. She was worried she wasn’t smart enough. One thing she always told me was that she didn’t want to be in Slytherin because she didn’t want to be evil.” Susan’s voice had dropped to almost a whisper. “And then I got put in Slytherin. She was behind me in the line. I saw her face when I was sorted. She looked…horrified. Like she couldn’t believe it. And ever since then she’s been avoiding me, and runs away whenever we meet. It’s like she thinks I was tricking her all those years or something.”

They had arrived at the classroom. Edward had set his stack of books on his desk, but Susan was still standing in front of it, clutching the two books and inkwells that she had been carrying, trying to stop her arms from shaking.

“It doesn’t matter that I’m a Slytherin,” She whispered, sounding on the verge of breaking down. “I still want to help people. And I don’t want anyone to be afraid of me.”

Edward gently took the books from her trembling arms and set them on the desk. “You’re right,” he affirmed, trying to sound as gentle as possible. “It doesn’t matter what house you’re in. I think the whole sorting business is a terrible idea; it just encourages prejudice.” Ed laid his left hand on Susan’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. “Everyone should be treated the same, and no magical hat should get to decide how a person is treated. So what if you’re Slytherin. Even if no one else does, I promise I’ll always treat you the same.”

Susan finally looked up, and Ed saw, to his horror, that she had tears shimmering in her eyes. To his even greater dismay, Susan lunged forward and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. He awkwardly hugged her back with his flesh arm, unsure of how to react.

“Thank you.” Susan’s words were slightly muffled and he almost didn’t hear her. She abruptly released him and hurried out the door.

Ed was left standing in the middle of his classroom, slightly stunned and trying to figure out what the heck had just happened.

~o~O~o~

“So Ed, how’s teaching going?”

Edward didn’t bother trying to stop the groan that escaped him as he turned away from his breakfast to face Remus.

“Not well then?” His fellow teacher asked sympathetically.

“It’s not really their fault,” Ed explained reluctantly. “It’s just that alchemy isn’t really meant to be taught in a classroom setting. It’s better to learn from a private teacher with one or two students, three at most. Even though my classes have gotten smaller, I have an average of five students in each class. I have TEN students in one class! TEN! I can’t teach alchemy to a class of ten students!”

“So what are you going to do about it?” Remus asked as he reached for his goblet.

“Ramp up the difficulty until enough of them drop out,” Ed said matter-of-factly.

Remus nearly choked on his pumpkin juice. “But don’t you _want_ them to learn alchemy?” He sputtered as he recovered.

Ed shrugged with indifference. “Honestly I couldn’t care less.”

Remus looked aghast. “Why don’t you just split the class in half instead?” He suggested tentatively.

“Huh. I never thought of that.” Edward replied. “But then I would have more classes to teach and less research time.”

Remus looked like he was about to reply, but was interrupted by the arrival of the owl post. An owl swooped down and deposited two letters in front of Edward. His spirits lifted greatly, as they always did when he received a letter from his younger brother. He was slightly annoyed at the second letter, which looked to be from Colonel Mustang, but that was overshadowed by Al’s letter. He tore open the Colonel’s letter first, wanting to get that one over with.

_Fullmetal,_

_I know this is a little late, but I have noticed something strange about your recent relocation. It seems that someone may have been influencing you being chosen for this mission. I don’t know why I didn’t notice before now, to be honest. There isn’t anything that can be done, so don’t have a conniption over it. I thought you would like to know, in any case. You can thank me later. In the meantime, don’t do too much property damage and_ please _try not to cause any international incidents. I have enough paperwork as it is._

_Colonel Roy Mustang_

_The Flame Alchemist_

Ed frowned as he finished the letter, questions assembling themselves in his mind. Why would someone want him to teach at Hogwarts? Were they trying to get him out of the way or something? Was Al in danger? Well, obviously not because he was holding his little brother’s letter, but would he be in danger eventually?

Mostly he was just mad though. If someone was pulling strings to ensure that he got sent away, then that meant he probably wouldn’t have been sent otherwise. And that meant that he could be back with Alphonse right now, getting something useful done!

“Ed, is everything alright?” Remus’s concerned voice snapped Ed out of his musings.

“Yeah, fine,” he replied easily, wiping all traces of concern off his face. He read through Alphonse’s letter, and was glad to see that his younger brother was doing just fine. He paused with a frown when he came to one of the last paragraphs.

_I spoke with Winry recently about your automail. She says that you need to be very careful once it starts getting cold enough to snow because your automail will freeze up and maybe give you frostbite. She wants to give you northern automail so that isn’t a risk, but she doesn’t know how she’ll be able to travel that far. You should try to arrange something; I don’t want you to get hurt because of the cold. Be careful until then._

_‘Now that I think about it, metal and cold don’t really mix well. Good thing it hasn’t gotten too cold yet. Though it’ll be getting even colder now that November has started.’_

“Hey Remus,” Ed said. “Is there any way for you wizards to transport people quickly over long distances?”

“Of course,” Remus answered. “Portkeys, apparating, and the Floo Network.”

Ed blinked. “…I have no idea what any of those words mean.”

Remus laughed. “A portkey is made with an object and can be programmed to transport anyone who touches it at a certain time. Apparating is performed by one wizard and takes practice to accomplish, but it can take you pretty much anywhere. The Floo Network is set up in fireplaces; you go in one and come out at your destination, as long as the fireplace is hooked up.”

Ed blinked again, processing the new information. “Right…so which one could be used to get someone over here from Amestris?”

“Oh, do you need to get someone over here?”

“Yeah, my mechanic,” Ed explained. He didn’t have to explain the ‘mechanic’ part; Remus had found out about his metal limbs when he took him to the hospital wing the first day.

“Are you having trouble?” Remus asked, worried.

“No, but I need an upgrade for the cold. So do you think that she can get up here somehow?”

“I’m sure Headmaster Dumbledore can arrange something. I’ll speak to him about setting up a portkey this weekend. Does that work?”

Edward nodded gratefully. “Thanks.” He stood up from the breakfast table. “I have to get ready for my classes.” He left the Dining Hall, slightly worried about Winry’s visit, but mostly glad that he would be seeing someone familiar.

_‘Usually I see her because I broke my automail doing something dangerous. I guess it’s kinda nice that I can see her and not have come from a life-threatening fight. After all, I’m at a school. I’m not really in any danger here.’_

 

|

o

|

O

|

o

|

 

 

_Fear. Real, bone-chilling, immobilizing fear. What a feeling._

_As your face goes white in terror, you never know if it will be the last time. As a barely audible whimper escapes from your paralyzed body, you never know if it will be the last time. So as you cower within the feelings of dread and dismay; cherish them. For you never know if it will be the last time._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who don’t want to look it up, a ‘conniption’ is a fit of rage or hysterics.


	17. You Really Put the ‘Long' in 'Longing'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the demigods are homesick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can’t believe I forgot to say this last chapter, but Jirachi At Sundown from fanfiction.net is my awesome beta reader, starting last chapter.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don’t own the song ‘This is War’ by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

*<*<*>*>* - Begin/end flashback

 

 

Percy

 

“What do you think Professor Elric’s doing?”

Percy turned his head to look at Ron, feeling the dry, dead grass pull on his hair. Ron nodded to the right, where Professor Elric was pacing agitatedly in front of a tree.

“Maybe he’s enjoying the nice weather like the rest of us,” Thalia suggested from her spot next to Nico.

“Then why is he pacing?” Ron pointed out.

Harry shrugged. No one offered any other answer. They were all outside enjoying a rare break from the rain, and even Percy was feeling relaxed. That was something that didn’t happen often. Percy closed his eyes and enjoyed the warm heat of the sun on his face. A thumping noise caused him to open his eyes, seeking for the source of the disturbance.

The sound of fast-paced chattering drew his gaze to where Professor Elric had been pacing. He had been joined by Professor McGonagall and a blonde girl that he didn’t recall seeing before. She seemed to be talking enthusiastically to Professor Elric.

“When did they get here?” Percy wondered aloud, pushing himself up from the ground.

“Portkey,” announced Ron, who had been watching the whole time.

“Who is that?” Harry asked, shading his eyes as he looked.

The girl was slightly taller than Professor Elric, and was definitely a muggle, judging from her clothing. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail that hung down to her waist and swung back and forth as she whipped her head around, taking in the sights. As Percy watched, she and Professor Elric walked into the castle.

Ron jumped to his feet, a mischievous grin on his face. He narrowly missed stepping on Percy’s hand, which Percy had pulled away just in time.

“Ron, what are you doing?” Hermione asked, exasperation seeping into her tone.

Ron looked down at her accusingly. “Don’t _you_ want to find out who that is?”

Hermione’s eyebrows twitched, but she didn’t deny it. “That doesn’t matter. You would be intruding. Besides, you don’t even know where they’re going.”

“We can _at least_ check the classroom,” Ron persisted.

“Yeah,” Percy jumped in eagerly. “I’m getting bored anyway.”

“Honestly Percy,” Thalia chided, rolling her eyes. “Sometimes you really don’t act like you’re sev–thirteen.”

“Whatever,” Percy said, ignoring Thalia’s slip up. He got to his feet and turned to Hermione. “C’mon Hermione.”

“Excuse me?” Hermione looked up from her book, narrowing her eyes. “Why do you think _I’m_ coming?”

“Because if they _are_ there, we need an excuse for why we came,” Percy explained. “You’re the one most likely to visit a teacher.”

Before Hermione could protest any more, Ron grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. “You guys stay here. We’ll be right back.” With that, Ron and Percy trekked towards the castle, pulling Hermione along with them.

After getting turned around more than once (letting Percy lead was a bad idea) the three stopped outside of Professor Elric’s classroom. If he was being honest, Percy wasn’t just curious. Granted, that was part of the reason, but he also wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to learn more about Professor Elric.

Ron and Percy looked to Hermione. “You knock,” Percy said. “You’re our reason for being here.”

Hermione huffed and stepped past them, muttering “boys, honestly.” She knocked firmly on the door, straightening up as she did so.

There was a scrambling sound on the other side of the door, followed by a cry of “Winry!” Then the door swung open to reveal the blonde girl. She turned back to Professor Elric, who was hastily pulling his jacket on to cover his metal limbs. Percy noticed for the first time that the girl was holding a wrench.

_‘Oh,’_ he realized. _‘She must be the one who takes care of Professor Elric’s metal arm.’_

“This is Winry,” Professor Elric said, stepping forward.

He pointed to each of the students in turn and said something that Percy didn’t understand. He only caught their names, so he figured he was introducing them. It was then that he realized that neither foreigner had a translation spell.

“Did you need something?” Professor Elric’s speech was more strongly accented and slower than usual, but he seemed to be handling English fairly well.

“Oh, we–I mean–” Hermione shuffled her feet, nervously trying to formulate a reasonable excuse. “We wanted to ask–it doesn’t really–well, we can ask tomorrow–or we can come back later I guess–sorry, we didn’t mean to interrupt you!”

Percy held back a smirk. Of course they had meant to interrupt them.

“Uh…right. Ok.” Professor Elric looked a bit confused, but covered it quickly. “So if that’s all you needed, then you can get going now–”

He was ushering them towards the door when Winry interrupted. Percy couldn’t understand any of what she was saying, but it sounded like she was scolding him for something. He protested, and she rolled her eyes and said something else, crossing her arms.

“You seem a lot like Annabeth.” It was out of Percy’s mouth before he knew what he was saying.

Winry and Professor Elric stopped and turned towards him, confusion showing clearly on their faces. Percy realized that maybe he should stop talking, but he had meant it. The way Winry was scolding Professor Elric, and rolling her eyes like he was a moron reminded Percy so much of Annabeth rolling her eyes at him. _‘Seaweed Brain.’_

“Not just because you’re both blonde though,” Percy continued. “I mean, there is that, though Annabeth’s hair is curly. And she has grey eyes, not blue. Not that blue eyes aren't pretty, I just prefer grey. But you seem like you have a similar personality. And you seem smart. Probably not as smart as Annabeth, but that’s hard to do.”

Percy realized that he was rambling about his girlfriend to four people who didn’t know her at all, but he hadn’t talked about her in so long that when the opportunity arose, he had pounced on it. Hermione and Ron were giving him weird and slightly concerned looks. Professor Elric and Winry just looked confused. The latter hesitantly said something that sounded like a question.

“Oh right, you can’t understand me,” Percy remembered.

“Right, we’ll be going now!” Hermione seized his arm and pulled him towards the door. “It was nice meeting you Winry, and we’ll see you in class Professor.” She marched them out of the classroom and down the hall, only stopping when they were several corridors away.

“Why did I ever agree to that!” Hermione groaned.

“Because you were bored and had nothing better to do, not to mention you love sticking your nose in other people’s business as much as the rest of us?” Percy offered with a smirk.

“I don’t know why I ever listen to you.” Hermione turned on her heel and marched off, her robes swishing behind her.

~o~O~o~

_“The next Hogsmeade weekend is coming up,”_ Percy commented to Thalia as they sat in the Library. _“Have you thought any more about what we should do?”_

Thalia set her quill down, but kept her eyes on the essay she was writing. _“Yeah, I have. I’m thinking only one of us should go; two at most. We don’t want to risk Alex spotting us any more than we have to, but one of us needs to keep an eye on Harry.”_

_“So who’s going to go?”_ Nico asked from Thalia’s left. _“And how are we going to explain to Harry why two of us are staying behind?”_

_“That’s what I haven’t figured out yet,”_ Thalia sighed.

_“You should definitely be the one to go,”_ Nico volunteered. _“You can manipulate the mist better than me or Percy, so you’re less likely to be spotted.”_

Percy nodded in agreement. _“Nico and I will hide out on the grounds until you’ve left.”_

When Percy said ‘hide out on the grounds’ he really meant ‘hide out in the lake’ which obviously didn’t work too well for Nico. Percy had no doubts that Nico could make himself scarce, so he had no qualms about sinking down to converse with the aquatic life and leaving Nico to do Hades knew what on the surface.

He was surprised to find Nico waiting for him at the edge of the lake when he surfaced an hour later. He vaguely wondered how long he had been there, but brushed the thought aside.

“Hey. How’re the grinndylows doing?” Nico asked dryly.

“Quite well, as a matter of fact,” Percy replied haughtily as he climbed onto the shore. “Though I’m still getting used to the differences between magical creatures and mythical creatures.”

“Yeah, same here, but with magic and myths in general.” Nico lowered himself to sit on the lake shore. “It’s weird. They’re almost identical in some ways, and completely different in others. I do like not being attacked by monsters around every corner though.”

“Now we have a bunch of new creatures that can kill us,” Percy said cheerily as he sat next to Nico. He sobered as he looked over the lake, pangs of homesickness finding him again. “Monsters aside, I really miss it. Our side of the world, I mean. The mythical side.”

Nico was silent as he pulled his knees up to his chest. “Yeah,” he admitted quietly. “I really do miss it.” He tried to keep his voice even, but Percy noted the hint of longing that escaped. “I bet you really miss Annabeth,” Nico said, turning to Percy with a teasing smile. “I’m surprised you’ve stayed sane without her around to keep you in line.”

Percy laughed, but there was melancholy in his tone. “You and me both. I still have to find something to bring back to her.”

“It has to be something intelligent,” Nico warned. “Something that she can learn about.”

“I have no idea what to get her,” Percy groaned. “Maybe I should just bring her a book or something.” He paused, considering. “Too bad the library doesn’t have any books in ancient Greek.”

“How about a book of magical creatures, one with more diagrams and pictures than words?” Nico suggested. “She’s probably like to look for magical creatures now that she knows they exist.”

“Yeah, good idea,” Percy approved. “Then we’ll have something to remember this by.” He frowned into the lake. “I hate that we won’t ever be able to come back here.”

Nico nodded in agreement. “I’m going to miss the magical side of the world, and everyone here.”

Percy looked up at the majestic castle, the sweeping grounds, and the lake that he had come to know and love. “I’ll miss it too,” he replied sadly. “We’ve known this whole time that we can’t stay, but that doesn’t make it easier to know that we’ll have to leave eventually, and we won’t be coming back.”

“Just like it isn’t going to be easy to sit by and let everything happen,” Nico added grimly. “When we started this mission, and Chiron told us that it would be hard to watch everything happen, I didn’t really believe him. I thought that because we knew the costs, and we knew that it would be alright in the end, it would be easy.” Nico’s voice wavered. “But now that we’re here, and we’re their friends, I almost feel like I’m betraying them by not saying anything.”

Percy’s thoughts were unwillingly drawn to all of the horrible things he knew would happen to his friends. Some of them would die, and they would all go through terrible, life-changing experiences. And he knew all about it. He knew that in a little over a year, Voldemort would return, Cedric Diggory would die, and things would only get worse from there.

“I know, Nico.” Percy stood up, his thirteen-year-old face showing pain that didn’t belong even on a seventeen-year-old. “But like you said, it all turns out all right in the end. So we need to stop Alex, and keep it that way.”

~o~O~o~

When Thalia, Ron, Hermione, and Harry returned, they all wore serious expressions, and Hermione and Ron would glance over at Harry with worried expressions. Thalia nodded discreetly at them, and Percy breathed a sigh of relief. Everything had gone as it was supposed to.

The risk was gone now; they had made it past the most dangerous Hogsmeade weekend. Harry would be gloomy for a few days, but Christmas was next week, and his spirits would pick back up after that. Percy pretended to listen as Hermione explained what they had overheard in Hogsmeade, though he already knew what had happened.

He nodded sympathetically along with Nico, but the three demigods were smiling internally as they thought of what Sirius Black was actually like. Percy wanted so badly to set everything right, to make Harry happy; but he knew he couldn’t. He knew that there was an order to this; that everything would turn out fine in the end.

_‘Everything will turn out fine. We made it past the Hogsmeade weekend; now there’s no real danger for weeks.’_

 

|

o

|

O

|

o

|

 

 

_Anger. Real, judgment-clouding, rampaging anger. What a feeling._

_As your jaw clenches in rage, you never know if it will be the last time. As you let loose a terrifying cry from your lungs, you never know if it will be the last time. So as you battle within the feelings of fury and vexation; cherish them. For you never know if it will be the last time._


	18. You Really Put the ‘Stab' in 'Stability'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the peace is shattered

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I worked so hard on this chapter. You guys have no idea. This chapter is my baby. Please be nice to my baby.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don’t own the song ‘This is War’ by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek

 

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

 

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

 

*<*<*>*>* - Begin/end flashback

 

 

**Harry**

Harry didn’t know that much about the night his parents died. Thanks to the dementors, he knew more than he wanted to. And now, he knew that their deaths had been caused by one of his father’s best friends. Needless to say, the new information made him angry. If Sirius Black were in front of him, he felt as if he wouldn't hesitate in killing him.

Hermione and Ron weren’t sure how to act around him. Thalia, Percy, and Nico treated him as they always did, which Harry appreciated. He tried not to think about Black and focus on his schoolwork, but it was hard with Hermione and Ron sending him anxious glances every five seconds. Which is why he retreated to the library by himself to enjoy some privacy.

He tried to study, but he found himself staring at the wall, thinking only of his parent’s betrayer. How long had Black been working with Voldemort? Had it been from the very beginning? Had he ever been their friend in the first place? If he had, then why, _why_ would he betray him like that?

“Excuse me?”

Harry jerked up, startled, and turned to the new voice. It was a young girl, probably a first year. Harry looked closer and recognized her as the Slytherin girl who had been visiting Professor Elric in the hospital wing after the Quidditch game. What was her name? Something White.

“Er…yes? Can I help you?” He asked, not bothering with remembering the rest of her name.

“Actually, you looked like you could use some cheering up.” She smiled at him, and Harry blinked in confusion, slightly suspicious of the young Slytherin.

White continued, ignoring his confusion. “I don’t know what’s wrong, and I don’t expect you to tell me. But whatever it is that’s happening, you can’t let it ruin the good things that are happening right now. You have friends and opportunities, and every day you can breathe and eat and read and sleep _happily._ So whatever it is that’s bothering you, don’t let it take those things away from you.” The first-year smiled brightly. Before Harry could respond, she turned and walked out of the library.

Harry watched her go, wondering what to make of her. Had she really given him that speech just because she thought he looked sad? What was her reason? She was a Slytherin, surely she had some ulterior motive. She didn’t even know him, she couldn’t have just wanted him to be happy…right?

 

|

_Joy._

|

 

Harry shook his head and began gathering his books. Whatever White’s motives had been, maybe he did feel a little better. A little.

 

|

_Sadness._

|

 

He smiled a little as he walked out of the library. He had a few days until his homework was due, maybe he could convince Percy or Nico to try a broom. They could have some fun, and he could forget about Black for a while.

 

|

_Fear._

|

 

It seemed to him that Percy, Nico, and Thalia were too tense sometimes. They hid it well, but sometimes their restlessness would slip through. They were just kids, after all. They shouldn’t have to worry about murders; at least not all the time.

 

|

_Anger._

|

 

Harry smiled. He would have to find that White girl later and thank her. He had no idea why she had decided to do what she did, but it had helped him. She seemed nice; even if she was a Slytherin. Harry laughed inwardly. Thalia would love to hear him say that.

 

|

_Four emotions._

|

 

Harry’s thoughts were significantly brighter than before as he neared the common room.

 

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_Some considered good, some considered bad._

|

 

His happy train of thought crashed abruptly to a halt when a scream echoed through the castle halls.

 

|

_As you experience each one_

|

 

Harry whirled toward the sound, seeing Professor McGonagall rushing toward him.

“Professor, what’s going on?” He asked urgently.

 

|

_You never know if it will be the last time._

|

 

“Sirius Black has been spotted in the castle,” McGonagall informed him briskly, hiding any traces of worry. “Come with me, Potter.”

 

|

_So cherish them all_

|

 

“What?!” Harry exclaimed as Professor McGonagall ushered him down the hall. “But, Professor–”

He was interrupted they turned a corner and ran headfirst into a student.

 

|

_The good and the bad_

|

 

Professor McGonagall’s wand was trained on the boy in an instant, and she lowered it as she saw who it was. The boy leaned against the wall in relief as she lowered her wand.

“P-professor, h-he–he’s looking f-for–” The boy stammered, and Harry saw he was shaking so bad he was having trouble standing.

 

|

_For you never know_

|

 

“He was looking for me, wasn’t he?” Harry asked the trembling boy, trying to contain his own fear.

“N-no, i-it’s the three e-exchange students, he was looking f-for them!”

Harry froze, shocked, and was immediately worried for his three friends; not to mention confused. What did Black want with _them?_

 

|

_If it will be the last time._

|

 

**Percy**

Percy’s day had been pretty normal. Nothing spectacular was supposed to happen, according to what they had read. Just another normal day of homework, classes, and relaxing. Then there was a faint scream, and then silence.

Percy, Nico, and Thalia were alone in an empty classroom, practicing their spell-work. They all dropped their wands, each reaching for concealed weapons. The seconds ticked by, and nothing happened.

“What was that?” Thalia asked, still on the alert.

“Nothing good,” Nico replied uneasily.

Percy fiddled with Riptide, which he had drawn out of his robes. “C’mon, let’s go see what happened.”

The three demigods crept out of the classroom, long-honed battle sense awakening. They had been in a fairly isolated section of the castle, so they headed towards the great hall. Hearing the sound of running footsteps, they whirled around, ready to draw their weapons at a moment’s notice. A young girl burst through a doorway, looking around frantically. Spotting them, she sagged in relief.

“Hurry, come with me!” She cried, beckoning to them urgently

“Uh…what?” Percy asked, coming out of his battle stance. “What’s going on?”

“He’s here, Sirius Black! He’s looking for you! Come on, I know a passageway that can take you near Great Hall. Hurry!”

“If he’s looking for us, then you need to get away from us!” Thalia warned. “We can handle–”

“Shut up and come on!” The girl pleaded. She turned and ran down the hall.

The demigods looked at each other, then rushed after her. They hadn’t been running for long when the girl stopped at a seemingly random spot in the hall. She turned to the wall and muttered a few words while waving her wand. A doorway appeared in the wall, and she gestured into it frantically.

“Hurry, though here!”

“You first,” Percy instructed.

The girl shook her head. “I have to close it from the outside. I’ll go around another way, don’t worry, I know plenty of passages.” The sound of footsteps made all four wizards freeze. “Hurry!” She pleaded.

Percy, seeing that hesitating would only put them more at risk, hurried into the passageway. Nico and Thalia followed his lead. As soon as they had crossed through the doorway, the wall closed up behind them, separating them from their savior. The three demigods were left alone, wondering what they had done wrong to cause this catastrophe.

 

**Susan**

Susan White had never thought of herself as brave. Even so, she had made a promise to herself. She had promised that she would help anyone who needed it, no matter how small and no matter what the risk. When she was sorted into Slytherin, that did nothing to change her promise.

And now, as she closed the passageway, she knew that she was doing the right thing. She was doing what she believed was right. Even so, her hands were shaking. She had kept a brave cover on for the three escapees, but now that they were gone, it was slipping.

As she turned to face the murderer, she was _terrified_ because she didn’t want to die and she could have helped so many people and couldn’t she at least have seen her baby sister even _once_ and what about everything she had wanted to do with her life and now it was all slipping away and it was happening _so fast_ and she was _scared_ –

“Listen, girl, I don’t want to have to kill a Slytherin, but I will if necessary. Tell me where they are and I won’t have to.”

It would be _so easy_ to just point at the passageway, and then she would _live_ and she would see her family and she would do so many things to help people and surely living would be better, she could do some much for the rest of the world–but she knew that if she did that, she would never forgive herself. She would live the rest of her life regretting. And she had made a promise. She would not go back on what she believed.

Her legs were shaking, her eyes were filling with tears, and it was _so hard_ to make herself speak that one word.

“No.”

“Are you really willing to die to save three people that you don’t even know?”

“I promised that I would give help to anyone who needed it, no matter the risk.” Susan squeezed her eyes shut, tears streaming down her face and fear gripping her heart. Her last words came out barely louder than a whisper, her throat clenched so that she could barely breathe. “That’s what I believe.”

As she felt a sharp pain pierce her heart, she remembered her older brother’s words to her so long ago; spoken through a teasing grin. _“A promise like that is going to get you killed one day, Suz.”_ And for the first time, when examining this memory, she noticed the well-concealed worry in her brother’s tone.

The pain in her chest was worse than anything she had ever felt; she didn’t know what was happening anymore, her only thoughts were of the awful, burning pain in her heart. She had heard that your life flashed before your eyes right before you died. As her chest turned numb and she breathed her last, she remembered.

_Running to her brother as he returned home for the summer, jumping into his arms as he laughed and said she would love it when she was old enough…_

Susan vaguely registered that she was on the floor, though she didn’t know how she had gotten there.

_Playing house with Lucy, talking excitedly about Hogwarts, promising to stay best friends forever…_

The footsteps of her killer faded away, or was it that everything was fading?

_Eating dinner with her family, hearing her brother’s stories…_

Were those footsteps getting louder? She didn’t hurt anymore…she felt…numb. Weightless.

_Sitting next to her mother as her father scolded her for lying…_

Susan’s vision was white, but she could have sworn she saw a flash of red…and…was that a voice? The only voices she could hear were inside her head, coming in quick flashes.

_Flash. Her mother telling her about her acceptance letter. Flash. Her brother teasing her about being nervous. Flash. Her father telling her she didn’t have to worry; she would be ok. Flash. Her mother calling goodbye as the train pulled away._

“Susan?! _Susan!!_ No no _no no…_ ”

Who was talking? The voice sounded familiar, but Susan couldn’t quite place it. She had felt like she was drifting, but now she could feel that she was done.

“No, please, not again…”

She wanted to tell whoever that was that it was ok, but she couldn’t seem to move her body anymore. She saw brilliant gold, piercing through the whiteness, and then it was gone, and she was free.

 

**Luna**

Luna Lovegood had often been regarded as crazy. Loony Lovegood, they called her. It had never bothered her. She knew that she wasn’t crazy, and that was what mattered. She sometimes saw things, things that anyone else would consider strange, even for the wizarding world. When she was younger, they would scare her; but now she was used to them.

Sometimes she would encounter something that startled her, but that was a rare occurrence. When the three Americans had arrived, she knew that they were different. She knew that there was something within them that was ancient and powerful, yet somehow familiar. She knew that they didn’t belong here.

Luna knew that they didn’t belong the same way that she knew that this ‘Sirius Black’ wasn’t really Sirius Black; and she knew that whoever this woman was, this woman who was imposing as Black, she was after them. She didn’t know why, or how she knew. There were so many things she didn’t know for sure.

She knew that this woman was dangerous. She was planning something, and if she succeeded, destruction would follow. Luna knew that she needed to warn them. Perseus, Thalia, and Nico; they needed to know. She knew their names the same way she knew that they needed to know.

Luna rarely ran, but right now she was flying. She reached her destination right as the three practically fell through the wall and into the hallway. At that moment all she felt was relief that she had made it in time.

Their faces were white, and they didn’t seem registered her presence. And Luna knew that someone had died. Someone who hadn’t deserved to. Anger flared in her chest but she had to push it aside because _they needed to know_.

“Wait! I need to tell you something!”

The three whirled around, arms up and eyes wide, ready to fight.

Luna began talking, knowing she had no time to waste. “I don’t know how I know, or what exactly it is, but that woman–she’s dangerous.”

“Woman?” The girl; ‘ _Thalia,’_ her mind supplied, demanded. “Don’t you mean Sirius Black? What woman?” She had lowered her arms and was now eyeing Luna warily.

“No, not Black. A woman. I don’t know who she is but–I had to tell you. Please, listen to me!” Luna’s breath was short, her adrenaline having worn off. 

“She’s planning something. Something in the graveyard; something where the three will come together;” Luna wasn’t sure where the words were coming from, but she knew that she had to speak them. “Myths, magic, and alchemy; the three great powers; she’s bringing them together for something, something that will end in d-destruction.” Her voice stuttered out as she finished speaking, and suddenly she realized how utterly _terrified_ she was.

The three stared at her, a mixture of shock and disbelief on their faces.

“That-that’s all I know. Please, you have to run! If you die, then no one will be able to stop her. And then it will all be over. GO!”

Luna shoved them down the hallway. They stumbled, the bewilderment evident on their faces, but they gathered themselves and turned to run. The relief Luna felt was wonderful. She had warned them. Now she just had to get somewhere safe, like everyone else had. There wasn’t anything else she could do.

Luna turned into another hallway; and found herself facing the person who had haunted her dreams. For a split second, it looked like Sirius Black, and Luna wondered if maybe she was crazy. But then that second passed.

The woman whirled to face her, and Luna saw her clearly for the first time. Long, dark brown hair tinted with dark red. Cold, pale green eyes. Tall, with brown skin, and hands that looked used to work. Luna took in all of that in an instant before her mouth slipped and asked a simple, damning, question.

“Who _are_ you?”

The woman’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “How can you–ah, I see.” The woman sighed, as if it pained her. “I really didn’t want to kill anyone else, but I can’t very well have a clear-sighted mortal who’s been touched by Apollo running around ruining my plans.”

Luna didn’t have time to wonder what she meant. She didn’t have time to move, or to scream, or even to _think_ before a sharp pain entered her chest and she realized that she was going to _die_.

But she couldn’t die, because there were so many things that needed to be done and she was the only one who could do them and who was going to tell Harry that he wasn’t crazy when he saw the thestrals for the first time and who was going to convince her father to publish his story in the Quibbler and _so much more_ and she was seeing all of it, everything that she would have done but it was _too late now._ The last thing she heard as she fell to the floor was the woman’s sardonic voice.

“It’s too bad. You would’ve done great things, kid.”

 

|

o

|

O

|

o

|

 

_Cherish these emotions; the good and the bad. The joy, the sadness, the fear, the anger. For you never know if it will be the last time. And then it will be too late, and all you will have left is regret. So cherish them._


	19. You Really Put the ‘Guilt' in 'Guiltless'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ed is his usual angsty self, guilt complex and all

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don’t own the song ‘This is War’ by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

*<*<*>*>* - Begin/end flashback

 

** Edward **

When it came to gut instincts, Edward wasn’t very attuned. He didn’t usually get a ‘bad feeling’ that warned him of something about to go wrong. Then someone would speak, and he would realize.  _‘Brother, something doesn’t feel right…’_ He would realize, but by then it was too late. _‘Big brother Ed?’_ Too late to do anything but regret. He was always too late. And it wasn’t any different now.

There was no one to speak, no one to warn him of what he would see when he turned the corner, no warning at all. He hadn’t heard footsteps, or a cry of pain, a scream for help,  _nothing._  He had turned the corner with no warning, and was met with absolute shock as he tried to discern what was happening, because it couldn’t  _possibly_ be what he was actually seeing.

“Susan?!  _Susan!!_ No no  _no no_ …”

But it was, and the scientific side of his mind calmly informed him that with that much blood on the ground, and the area of what seemed to be a stab wound, there was no way she would live. He ignored that, the desperate side of his mind taking control as he lunged toward the girl on the ground, dropping to his knees beside her because she  _couldn’t_ be dead,  _please,_ not again, couldn’t he arrive in time just  _once, please!_

“No, please, not again…”

Edward desperately propped Susan up with his left arm and placed his right hand on the hole her chest, her blood staining his white gloves red. But he knew that it was futile. Her eyelids fluttered, and her brown eyes met his for an instant. In that instant, Ed could see the fear, the pain, and the desperation that she must have been feeling. Then all of that vanished, and a contented look entered her eyes for a split second, before all life disappeared.

Edward found himself holding another young girl that he hadn’t been able to save, the guilt and despair threatening to overwhelm him. Why, why,  _why_ was he always too late? Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that he couldn’t stay; Sirius Black was still in the castle and needed to be found.

Edward reached out a shaking hand and carefully closed Susan’s eyes. He gently slid his right arm under her legs and lifted her small body, slowly climbing to his feet. It was then that he realized he didn’t know where he should take her. He couldn’t go to the Great Hall; that was where the students were. After a moment of consideration, he began walking towards the hospital wing.

_‘Not that a hospital can help her…’_

The walk to the hospital seemed to take an eternity, and Susan’s body seemed to get heavier with every step. The only sounds were of his boots hitting the ground, a sound altogether too loud for the occasion. He was all too aware of his metal arm, an arm too hard and cold for carrying a young girl. A girl who shouldn’t have to be carried at all.

_‘If I had just been a little bit quicker…just a little bit…’_

The anger that Edward had been too distracted to notice flared to the surface.  _Sirius Black._  That was the man who had murdered an innocent eleven-year-old girl. If he hadn’t wanted to catch Black before, he did now. Now, he had someone to avenge.

“Mr. Elric!”

Edward’s footsteps came to an abrupt halt. He looked up, mutely registering that Madame Pomfrey was standing in front of him, her hands over her mouth in horror. She unfroze and quickly crossed the short distance between them. She moved a trembling hand toward Susan, but stopped as Edward shook his head, her face falling into sadness.

“I see,” she said quietly. “Why don’t you come in here and lay her down.”

Madame Pomfrey entered the hospital wing, Edward close behind. He gently lowered Susan onto a bed, carefully sliding his arms out from under her. He thought he heard Madame Pomfrey speaking, and another voice. He forced himself to turn around, and his heart dropped for a second time.

Professor McGonagall was standing at the foot of the bed next to him, and in that bed…another girl. He recognized her; Luna Lovegood, from one of his second-year classes. She had quite clearly suffered the same fate as Susan. A stab wound right in the heart, with no hope of surviving.

_‘Two children…he murdered two children…and I couldn’t do anything to stop him.’_

“Most of the teachers are conducting a thorough search of the castle,” Professor McGonagall was saying. “I must go, the students in the Great Hall need another teacher protecting them.”

Edward forced himself to walk away from Susan’s bed and towards the door. Professor McGonagall saw where he was going and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“You should stay–”

Edward cut her off. “I’m not a child. I’m in the military, I’ve seen death before.”

_‘But not usually like this.’_

“I’m not going to let a murderer run around loose.” Edward pushed Professor McGonagall’s hand off of his shoulder and continued walking towards the door.

“In that case, no one has searched by the astronomy tower yet.” Professor McGonagall’s voice was strained, but she didn’t move to stop him again.

“Thank you.” The words sounded hollow to Edward. He ignored Madame Pomfrey’s concerned protests and walked toward the astronomy tower.

_‘That monster is going to be punished. I don’t care if it’s by me, or someone else entirely. He’s not going to get away with this.’_

Edward forced himself to stay alert as he searched the astronomy tower, listening for any strange sound, eyes straining for any odd shadow, anything that could reveal the murderer he was searching for. But try as he might, he couldn’t find anything at all. Nothing. Not a single hint of anyone other than himself.

He felt so incredibly useless. He hadn’t been able to reach Susan in time, and now he wasn’t able to bring justice to her killer. Try as he might, he couldn’t do anything to help. Nothing. Not a single thing for anyone close to him.

~o~O~o~

As much as he hated to admit it, it didn’t really come as a surprise to Ed that Sirius Black was not found, even after hours of meticulously searching the castle. It seemed that the murderer was very good at escaping. After all, he had broken out of the most secure prison the wizard’s had to offer; exiting a castle undetected wouldn’t be too much of a challenge for him. It didn’t stop him from being angry though.

Ed wasn’t looking forward to when Dumbledore told the students of the murders, but he was dreading the parents arriving to claim the bodies. He would have to face Susan’s parents and tell them how he found her seconds before she had died, seconds after she had been attacked. If he had been even one minute sooner, he may have been able to save her.

Everyone in Hogwarts Castle was gathered in the Great Hall. All of the teachers and all of the students. Dumbledore walked onto the platform, facing them all. Edward didn’t envy him in the slightest. The students’ whispering hushed immediately when they saw him.

“Students and teachers,” Dumbledore began gravely, the regular twinkle in his eyes gone. “We have confirmed that Sirius Black was indeed in the castle, but is now nowhere to be found. You will stay in the Great Hall until tonight, when we are absolutely sure that he is gone.” Dumbledore paused, his serious mask falling for an instant to reveal his sorrow. “It is with utmost regret that I must inform you; Sirius Black did not leave without victims.”

The students grew even more silent, some with expressions of terrible fear, others of anger, others a mixture of the two.

“Two brave students have fallen.” The students let out gasps of surprise, along with the teachers who were unaware. “Susan White, a first-year of the Slytherin house.”

Cries of dismay came from all around the hall, especially loud from the Slytherin students, and several of them jumped to their feet in shock and anger.

“And Luna Lovegood, a second-year of the Ravenclaw house.”

The Ravenclaws echoed the Slytherins with cries of grief and anger. Muffled sobs could be heard from all four houses as they learned of their comrades’ fate. The teachers had grown pale, several had their hands over their mouths as they struggled to remain calm for the sake of the students.

“We must put aside our differences and come alongside our fellow houses in their time of grief,” Dumbledore continued. “And we will be taking all the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of you remaining students. Tomorrow many of you will travel home for the holidays, and I hope that you return in the new year.” Dumbledore stepped down from the platform and walked over to the teachers. “Would the heads of the houses and Mr. Elric please come with me to the hospital wing,” He said, his grave expression still in place. “The rest of you, stay and guard the students.”

He turned and began walking toward the hospital wing, followed by the four wizards and Edward. Madame Pomfrey was still in the hospital wing when they arrived, as was to be expected. The two bodies had been covered with white sheets.

The headmaster stood in the center of the room, facing the teachers and nurse. “Now that we are all here, I’m sure we would all like some clarity on what exactly happened. Minerva, I believe you were the first to learn of Black’s entrance?”

Professor McGonagall nodded. “That is correct. I heard a scream not far from me, and the student found me not long after that. She told me that she had seen Sirius Black, after which I informed the rest of you and immediately went to find Potter.” McGonagall paused. “But, it seems that Black was not after Potter after all.”

“What do you mean, Minerva?” Dumbledore asked, sounding puzzled.

“As I was escorting Potter to the Great Hall, we ran into another student who had encountered Black. He said that Black had asked him where the three exchange students were.”

“The three Americans?” Professor Sprout asked in disbelief. “Why would he want them?”

“We will look into that later,” Dumbledore said. “Go on, Minerva.”

McGonagall took a steadying breath and continued. “We came across Luna Lovegood not far from the Great Hall. I escorted Potter the rest of the way to the Hall, and then brought her up here to the hospital wing.”

Dumbledore nodded solemnly and turned to Edward. “You discovered Susan White, correct?”

Ed nodded, forcing his face to remain blank. “Third floor, west wing, second corridor on the right,” he recited. “She–hadn’t been there long.” His voice broke as he recalled how her intelligent eyes had dulled. “I brought her here and then left to search the astronomy tower.”

The headmaster nodded once more. “Thank you Mr. Elric. You may go now, I am sure you would like to clean yourself off and get some much-needed rest.”

Edward looked down at himself, remembering for the first time that he had blood on his clothes. It didn’t show up much on his red and black clothing, but his white gloves were now covered in crimson red.

“Right.” He turned and walked out of the room, feeling the adults’ stares on his back as he exited.

Edward barely made it to his room before his emotionless facade crumbled. He leaned on the wall next to his door, sliding down until he was sitting on the floor.

“It happened again,” he whispered, leaning his head against the wall. “Another little girl that I couldn’t do anything to help.”

Ed sat there on the floor for what seemed like hours, his mind drifting over nothing in particular, but always coming back to how he could have prevented it. He eventually forced himself to move so he could clean his clothes, not wanting to sit with the blood of his friend on him for any longer.

After he had discarded his blood-stained clothing, his gaze was drawn to his automail hand. The same hand that he had placed against Susan’s chest in an attempt to stop the bleeding. The same hand that he had used to carry her lifeless body.  _The same hand that could have saved her._  The silver metal was tainted with dried blood that had no doubt seeped into the inner workings of his automail.

_‘How ironic,’_  he thought humorlessly,  _‘that her blood is on my hands.’_

Edward dropped his head, closing his eyes to block the view of red on silver. He began the meticulous task of cleaning his automail, a task that was so much harder than usual. A task that was torturous because of  _why_  he was cleaning.  _Because he couldn’t save her._  By the time he had finished, he wanted nothing more than to lay down and sleep; to block out his suffering for a short while.

But he knew from experience that sleep would only lead to more suffering, in the form of nightmares. Besides that, he still had work to take care of. Like it or not, he needed to write a report back to Colonel Mustang telling him of the recent developments. Not to mention he should write to Al.

At the mere thought of Al, Edward found himself missing his younger brother so much that it hurt. He and Al had always been together, for as long as he could remember, no matter what. Al had been there with him for the transmutation, as much as Ed wished he hadn’t been. Al had been there when he got automail, and through the painful rehabilitation. He had been there when he became a dog of the military, and signed himself off as a human weapon. He had been there with Nina, and through the same feelings of helplessness. He had been there for any hardship that Ed had faced. Now he was alone, and he hated it.

With a jolt, Edward realized that the next day was the start of the winter break, for Christmas. He still wasn’t sure what Christmas was all about;he just knew that it had been an opportunity for him to visit home. But now…now he wasn’t so sure. He couldn’t leave, not with the school in this state, after everything that had happened. But how was he supposed to survive the rest of the year without seeing Alphonse?

_‘I’ll see if he can come up here instead.’_ Ed thought with determination.  _‘He’s been saying he wants to see everything anyway, so I’m sure he won’t mind. I’ll just have to speak with Dumbledore about it. And he_ will _say yes, one way or another.’_

Ed wrote his report, though he didn’t go into much detail about the murders. He couldn’t bring himself to write anything detailed. He couldn’t bring himself to write how he had arrived seconds before she had died, seconds too late…mere seconds away from saving her…

_‘I only had to be a little bit faster, only a little bit!’_ And never had Ed hated the word ‘little’ so much.

He wrote a much longer letter to Al, asking if he would be able to travel to the school. There was no doubt in his mind that Al would say yes. He wanted to see his brother  _so_  badly,and he knew Al must feel the same way. Ed was able to fall asleep looking forward to something.

But his dreams were haunted by the guilt of past mistakes. Chestnut hair and fair skin turning disfigured and terrifying, a black hand reaching out…long braids and a white dog, coming together in a horrifying way, a sad voice crying out…and now, brown eyes looking past black hair, filled with sorrow and blame, as blood poured from her chest…and the resounding question from all of them:

_‘Why didn’t you save me, Edward? I thought you loved me? Didn’t you care about me? So why didn’t you save me?’_

_‘Son?’_

_‘Big brother?’_

_‘Professor?’_

_“Why didn’t you save me?!”_


	20. You Really Put the ‘Blame' in 'Blameless'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the demigods feel guilty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don’t own the song ‘This is War’ by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking 

*<*<*>*>* - Begin/end flashback 

 

** Percy **

_‘Do not change the past. Do not change the past. Whatever you do, do not change the past.’_  The mantra repeated in Percy’s head over and over, Chiron’s warning echoing inside his skull as if it would somehow change what had happened.

_‘This is our fault.’_ Percy thought despairingly.  _‘The whole reason we were sent here was to make sure nothing like this happened. And now because we failed, two people are dead.’_

From the looks on Thalia and Nico’s faces, they were thinking along the same lines. Thalia’s eyes burned with anger, and Nico’s presence seemed even darker than usual.

Dumbledore was saying something about putting aside differences, but Percy was too distracted to pay attention. The only thing he could think about was the two children who were now dead.

_‘If Susan hadn’t helped us; if we had insisted that she get to safety; then she wouldn't have died. And Luna–what’s going to happen now that she’s dead? Luna can’t die…she’s important.’_

Percy winced, instantly feeling guilty for thinking about Luna’s ‘importance’. Who was he to insinuate that Luna’s death was more tragic than Susan’s simply because Luna was ‘important’? Luna wasn’t just ‘important’, she was an innocent girl who shouldn’t have died, regardless of her ‘worth’.

But as much as he hated the thought, it was true. Luna was an important part of Harry’s journey. Now she was gone, and it was their fault. They were supposed to stop the Time-Jumper, and they had failed. And because of their failure, two innocent young girls were gone forever.

Percy bowed his head, trying to shut out the desperate, mournful whispers and sobs that carried through the Great Hall. And as he did so, he couldn’t help but feel as if he were hiding. Hiding from the guilt of his failure. He closed his eyes, but that didn’t stop the tears from falling.

~o~O~o~

The fire that burned in the common room seemed cold; if that were possible. The crackling of the fire, usually comforting, now seemed to be mocking laughter. The flames, usually entrancing as they danced together, now seemed to be reaching out, hungry for more than wood. The light that the flames cast, usually an oddly beautiful pattern of shadow and light, now seemed only eery and not bright enough. A log fell from the fire, as if eager to break the stifling silence.

Of the six figures huddled around the fire, none seemed willing to be the first to speak. They were lost in their thoughts, thoughts of guilt, of what if, of despair, of confusion, of shock, of–

“It’s the prophecy.” Hermione’s voice was barely audible, but still loud enough to disrupt the silence.

Thalia’s nod was barely visible in the firelight. “Yeah. ‘The martyr, the victim’; it must have been them.”

“But–” Harry hesitated, then spoke again. “Why was Sirius Black looking for you three? I thought–I thought that it was me he was after.”

The demigods didn’t need to exchange any glances. They were all thinking the same thing, and they knew it.

Percy spoke, struggling to keep his voice even. “I don’t know.”

They couldn’t tell them. They couldn’t risk changing anything else. When Harry met Sirius Black at the Shrieking Shack and found out the truth, they would come up with something to tell him. But for now, they couldn’t tell anyone that Sirius Black was not the culprit.

Crookshanks leaped onto Hermione’s lap, rubbing his head against her arm. He let out a mournful mew; as if he understood the situation. Ron spotted him and frowned.

“Hermione, make sure he stays there. I’ve got…” He trailed off, his hand over his pocket. “Wait a minute–where’d Scabbers go?!”

Thalia sat up, alarmed. “When did you last see him?” Her voice was calm, but Percy could detect the undertones of urgency.

“I had him in my pocket when Black attacked, but I was too distracted to pay attention after that. He could be anywhere by now!”

Thalia’s eyes widened. Percy knew why she was worried.

_‘Pettigrew wasn’t supposed to run off yet. And him disappearing at the same time that Alex attacked can’t be a coincidence. What is she planning?’_

As Ron fretted over the fate of his pet, the demigods worried over a much bigger problem. It wasn’t until the fire had burned down to embers and their friends were in bed that the three time-jumpers could discuss their failure.

_“Let’s go over what we know.”_  Thalia took charge immediately, not allowing the silence to grab hold again.

Nico began.  _“Alex attacked Hogwarts to get to us, disguised as Sirius Black. She…killed Susan White and Luna Lovegood.”_

Percy picked up after Nico when he halted. _“Luna said it was a woman. We know that about Alex now.”_

_“And the rest of what she was saying,_ ” Thalia added.  _“What did all that mean? And how did she know it?”_

_“Luna said she was planning something in a graveyard?”_  Nico questioned, leaning forward.  _“And she said something about ‘the three great powers’ coming together; what did that mean?”_

_“Myths, magic, and alchemy,”_  Percy confirmed.  _“I remember. And she said it would end in destruction.”_  He paused, considering.  _“I guess we already knew that.”_

_“The graveyard…”_  Thalia tapped her fingers together, thinking.  _“Do you think she’s talking about next year? The end of tri-wizard tournament?”_

Nico nodded in agreement.  _“That must be it. She must be planning to use Professor Elric for something when Voldemort returns.”_

_“What about Pettigrew leaving?”_  Percy reminded them.  _“He must have left with Alex, right?”_

Thalia furrowed her brow, staring into the dying embers of the fire.  _“If he did, then she must have revealed who she actually is to him. He obviously wouldn’t have left with her if he thought she was Black. In fact, he might have just run off because he thought Black was actually here.”_

_“Right. I didn’t think of that.”_  Percy drew his knees up to his chest.  _“So what do we do now?”_

Thalia growled in frustration.  _“That’s the thing. There isn’t really anything we_ can _do. We have no idea where Alex is hiding; and even if we did, we have to stay here. The only thing we can do is wait until she shows herself again.”_

_“Alex has the advantage here,”_  Nico said glumly.  _“She knows where we are, who we are, and what we’re going to be doing. We know next to nothing about her and her plans.”_

_“She took a huge risk killing two people,”_  Percy realized.  _“That’s a major change to the course of history. Two deaths at Hogwarts–that’s more than enough to have some parents keep their kids at home, at least until Black is caught.”_

Thalia sat up so quickly that she almost fell out of her chair.  _“But he won’t be caught!”_

Nico shot her a puzzled glance. _“Yeah, of course he won’t. What’s your point?”_

_“Don’t you get it?”_  Thalia hissed in frustration, tightly gripping the arms of her chair. _“Everyone thinks that Sirius Black broke into Hogwarts and killed two people just to get to Harry! When he escapes at the end of the year, it’ll be an even bigger deal! How do you think the ministry will react?”_

Percy felt a familiar sense of dread creep over him as he realized what Thalia was saying.  _“You’re right. They might keep the dementors here, or install extra security, or do who knows what else! Whatever they do, the changes won’t be good. What are we supposed to do?”_

_“Fake his death?”_  Nico suggested.  _“If the ministry thinks Black is dead, they won’t worry about him.”_

_“But that could cause all sorts of problems,”_  Thalia groaned. _“Remember, the fact that Black is being hunted but isn’t dead is important later! How is Voldemort supposed to lure Harry to the Department of Mysteries if he thinks Black is dead?”_

_“Maybe we could mist everybody so they don’t think Black killed the students,”_  Percy offered.  _“After all, the mist has done bigger things.”_

_“Good idea, but who would we pin the murders on?”_  Thalia asked.

_“I hate to take a page from the ministry’s book,”_  Nico began hesitantly,  _“but maybe we could make their deaths look like an accident?”_

Percy bowed his head.  _“I’d hate to do that,”_  he muttered.  _“They were murdered because they were brave enough to help us. I’d hate to make their sacrifice look like nothing more than an accident.”_

_“I know,”_  Nico said.  _“But you have to admit that we don’t really have another choice.”_

_“Yeah, it’s just…”_ Percy clenched his jaw, trying to regain control of his shaking voice.  _“It’s not like I knew either of them very well. But Susan–she saved us. She didn’t know why we were being hunted, or who we were; she might not have even remembered our names. But she still saved us. And if we make it all look like an accident…neither of them deserves that.”_

Nico sat silently, listening to Percy with a blank expression. But Percy knew Nico well enough to tell that the son of Hades felt conflicted as well.

_“Believe me, I want them to get the credit they deserve.”_ Nico glared at the wall.  _“But we can’t. We have to look at the bigger picture. We need…to be smart about this.”_

_“That’s not the only problem,”_  Thalia added tiredly.  _“I don’t know if I can manipulate the mist that much. If Hazel were here…”_  Thalia shook her head. _“But she’s not. I could try, but no guarantees on how effective it’ll be.”_

_“We don’t even know for sure if that’s what we’re going to do,”_  Percy reminded her.  _“Just prepare in case we decide on that option.”_

Grey light began to seep into the common room, alerting the occupants to how late (or rather, early) it was.

_“If we want to get any sleep at all then we should continue this tomorrow,”_  Nico warned.

Percy wholeheartedly agreed. The three demigods quietly slipped into their rooms, falling into sleep for a few precious hours. A sleep that was not peaceful, but plagued with strange and meaningful dreams. Dreams that twisted and dissipated like smoke, leaving the dreamer confused and disturbed. Dreams that left Percy trying to remember what a restful night’s sleep felt like.

~o~O~o~

When the sun had risen fully in the sky, most of the population of Hogwarts had departed. The train that bore them away to safety had also brought the grieving families of two brave students. The father of Luna Lovegood, and the parents and brother of Susan White. As Percy watched them exit the castle, bearing two bodies in white, he wanted nothing more than to tell them how brave their children were.

He wanted to tell Luna’s father that she was special, even though her peers didn’t recognize it. He wanted to tell him how his daughter had a hand in saving the world, how her bravery had saved thousands of lives. He deserved to know how truly incredible his daughter was.

Percy wanted to tell Susan’s mother that she had raised her daughter to be a wonderful young woman. He wanted to tell her father that his daughter had died to save the world. He wanted to tell Susan’s brother that he must have been a great role model because his little sister was kinder than almost any girl her age. And Percy wanted to take the baby being cradled by that same older brother and tell her what an amazing person her older sister was.

But he couldn’t. Luna’s father would never know about the knowledge that Luna had carried, and how it would save so many people. Susan’s family would never know that their daughter’s bravery and selflessness in saving the three of them had saved the world. And that baby, unaware of the grief surrounding her, would never even know her older sister’s voice.

“They know.”

Percy started, noticing Thalia for the first time. She was watching the families leave, standing so still she might have been a statue. Only her lips moved as she spoke again.

“We can’t tell them everything their children did, and they may never know exactly why they died. But they know that their children were incredible.” Thalia turned her head to face him, and Percy could see tears gathering on her otherwise emotionless face. “Because they’re family. They loved them. And a family that loves will value each other more than anyone else.”

Thalia retreated back into the castle, leaving Percy alone in the biting wind, watching as the two mourning families departed from the castle, greater in number yet smaller in size than when they had come.

_‘A family that loves,’_  Percy thought.  _‘I guess part of my family loves me. The other part sometimes wants to kill me.’_  He smiled humorlessly.  _‘Maybe Thalia’s right though. If they loved their children, then they know how special they truly were. Even so, they deserve to know about their children’s sacrifice.’_  Percy straightened up, a hard light in his eyes and his mouth set in a determined line.  _‘If I can’t tell them what their children did, then the least I can do is make sure their deaths were not in vain.’_

“Susan, Luna,” Percy whispered to the gray winter sky. “I  _swear_ on the River Styx that we  _will_ catch the woman who murdered you.” Though his voice broke over the words, the dead seriousness in Percy’s tone was evident. “ _I swear it._ ”

Thunder rumbled in the distance, sealing Percy’s oath. The thunder came twice more after that, but the rain never fell. For once, Percy was glad for the lack of water. The depressing atmosphere would have only been heightened by a downpour.

_‘After all,’_  he thought,  _‘it’s a terrible day for rain.’_


	21. You Really Put the 'Lid' in 'Holiday'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Christmas is not as cheery as it could have been

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long, I was at camp for a week. I'll try to get the next one out sooner. Also, I now have names for my chapters, so that's why the titles are now changed.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don’t own the song ‘This is War’ by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

_“blah blah”_ – Speaking Greek  
  
**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian  
  
_‘blah blah'_ \- Thinking  
  
*<*<*>*>* - Begin/end flashback

**Harry**

     Christmas morning arrived, but it was easily the most subdued Christmas that Harry had ever had at Hogwarts. He almost felt guilty about celebrating, given what had happened only one week earlier. Despite that, he couldn’t help but feel excited when he opened a package to reveal a sleek, perfect, Firebolt. He was almost able to forget about Sirius Black. Of course, that changed when Professor McGonagall confiscated his wonderful new broom, on account of it being ‘dangerous’.  
  
“Don’t worry Harry,” Percy assured him as they headed to the Great Hall for breakfast. “If there’s nothing wrong with your broom then you’ll get it back.”  
  
“Better safe than sorry,” Thalia quipped.  
  
“But it’s a _Firebolt!”_ Ron protested. “And we haven’t even been able to use it once!”  
  
“Are you really going to complain about that?” Hermione broke in. “After everything that’s happened, I’d think you’d understand how much danger Harry is in!”  
  
     Her words had an instant effect. Ron quieted immediately as the friends took their seats at the breakfast table.  
  
“Ah, I see you three have been graced with Weasley sweaters as well!” Fred and George slid into the seats across from them, nodding in approval at Percy, Thalia, and Nico's sweaters before diving into the food.  
  
“It was really nice of your mom to make them for us,” Percy said with a grin, running his hands over the soft sweater.  
  
     He had received a dark blue sweater with a silver seashell embroidered on the front. Thalia’s sweater was purple with a deer stitched on the front, and Nico’s was black. Mrs. Weasley had discovered the three's interests during their stay at the Burrow and was now putting that knowledge to use. Apparently, she had decided that Nico would be happiest with solid black.  
  
     Christmas breakfast in the Great Hall was as delicious as usual, though less boisterous than previous years. The rest of the day was spent cheerily, and Harry was pleased to note that his three American friends were smiling again. They hadn't seemed to really smile since the murders–not that Harry could say any different. But as depressing as the mood had been around the castle, those three had seemed even more downtrodden.  
  
“What do you think's going to happen now?” Hermione asked as they sat watching the snow through the common room window. “After…what happened…what do you think it means for Hogwarts?”  
  
“What do you mean?” Ron asked, surprised.  
  
“Two people were killed, Ron,” Hermione said quietly. “ _Something_ has to be done.”  
  
“There are dementors here, what else are they going to do?” Harry wondered.  
  
“I'm sure the ministry could think of something,” Thalia sighed.  
  
“Once Black is caught they won’t have to worry anymore,” Hermione said.  
  
     It may have been his imagination, but Harry thought that the Americans had given each other a knowing look. They seemed to do that quite a bit, so much so that Harry had gotten used to it. He still hadn't quite figured out the three demigods, and he was beginning to think he never would. Even after they had spilled their secrets, it seemed that they were still shrouded in mystery.  
  
     Why Sirius Black was looking for them was the biggest mystery of all. Harry couldn’t think of any possible reason for the mass-murderer to be targeting the foreign exchange students. Even if he knew their true identity, what motive could he have for wanting them dead? It made no sense at all to Harry. He made a mental note to ask Hermione and Ron about it as soon as he got the chance.  
  
     If he ever got the chance, that is. After the attack, it seemed that Percy, Thalia, and Nico were always around; if not all of them, at least one of them seemed to be with Harry wherever he went. He didn't think it too odd; no one wanted to be alone after what had happened.  
  
“Hullo, what’s that?”  
  
     Harry started, pulled from his thoughts by Ron’s voice. He turned to the window to see what his friend was pointing at. Outside on the grounds, Professor Elric was standing with Professor McGonagall and a man in a tall suit of armour. Well, standing wasn’t the right word.  
  
     The man in armour had swooped down and hugged the small professor, nearly lifting him off the ground. It looked supremely uncomfortable to Harry, but Professor Elric didn’t seem to mind. The armoured man set down the professor, and the two walked towards the lake together. Professor Elric seemed to be eagerly chatting with the armoured man, waving his arms around and gesturing to the castle and grounds.  
  
“Who do you think he is?” Harry asked curiously.  
  
“I dunno.” Percy was as helpful as always.  
  
“And why is he here?” Nico added.  
  
“I’m sure if you need to know then you’ll find out,” Thalia said demurely.  
  
     Percy let out an odd cough that sounded suspiciously like a laugh, causing Thalia to glare at him. Ron jumped up and headed towards the door.  
  
“Forget that, let’s go see if we can find out!”  
  
Harry eagerly followed. “C’mon, we don’t have anything better to do!” He called over his shoulder.  
  
     Hermione reluctantly set her book down and stood up, followed by Percy, Nico, and Thalia. They had barely made it onto the grounds before they ran into Hagrid.  
  
“I haven’t seen ya six in er while!” The giant exclaimed, stopping them in their tracks. “How ‘bout ye come have a cup of tea and tell me how ye have been?”  
  
     Not giving them a chance to protest, Hagrid ushered the six students toward his hut. Ron cast a wistful glance toward the lake where Professor Elric and the stranger had disappeared to, but he followed Hagrid with his friends.  
  
     Hagrid sat them all around the table and set out cups of tea and rock cakes. The ‘cakes’ were ignored in favor of the tea.  
  
“How has it been going with Buckbeak?” Thalia asked, eyeing the hippogriff sympathetically.  
  
Hagrid’s hands shook as he set down the teapot, nearly spilling the contents onto the table. “Trial’s set for April 20.” He turned to Hermione with watery eyes. “Thanks for yer help Hermione, I couldn’t have done it without ye.”  
  
Hermione smiled up at him. “It was no trouble, Hagrid.”  
  
     Harry felt guilty upon hearing that Hermione had been helping Hagrid with Buckbeak's trial. He had been so caught up with all that had been happening, he had forgotten all about it. He resolved to help Hermione with her research the next time the opportunity arose.  
  
“Hey Hagrid,” Ron asked, leaning forward eagerly. “Do you know who that guy in armour is? The one who came to visit Professor Elric?”  
  
     Harry saw Thalia roll her eyes at Ron's persistence, but Harry was curious too. Professor Elric was a mystery all on his own, but it wasn't often that you saw someone wearing a full suit of armour.  
  
“Eh?” Hagrid turned to Ron. “Well, Edward did say something about his lil’ brother coming to visit for the holidays. I suppose that’s who it could be.”  
  
“His _little_ brother?” Harry asked incredulously. “How could that possibly be his _little_ brother?”  
  
“Well, now we know where all of his height went,” Percy snickered.  
  
“I wouldn’t recommend saying that to his face,” Nico said dryly.  
  
“Thanks for the tea, Hagrid,” Ron said, standing up. “We should be going now.”  
  
     Surprised, Harry and the others stood up, offering their own hurried thanks to Hagrid as they stumbled out the door after Ron.  
  
“Wait a minute,” Hagrid called. “Ya six shouldn't be running around by yerselves; not with all that’s happened lately. I'll go with ye.” The giant followed them outside.  
  
“What’s the rush anyways, Ron?” Nico asked.  
  
“You aren’t still planning on looking for Professor Elric and his brother, are you?” Hermione asked.  
  
“‘Course I am!” Ron replied, dashing towards the lake. “I want to find out if that really is his _younger_ brother!”  
  
     Hermione sighed as she followed him, but Harry knew that she was curious, just like the rest of them. Harry really did wonder how on earth the towering man in armour was related to their tiny professor; much less his brother. He wondered if one of them was adopted.  
  
     Upon reaching the water, the six friend stopped short by the shore. Halfway around the lake, they could make out Professor Elric and his maybe-brother. It was hard to tell from so far away, but it looked almost like they were fighting. Ron set off in their direction with barely any hesitation, and Harry hurried to catch up.  
  
     Now that they were closer, Harry could see that the ‘brothers’ were indeed fighting. Not a wizard’s duel with wands and magic; they weren't even holding any weapons. It was hand-to-hand combat, pure and simple. Harry had seen sparring before on the TV programs that Dudley liked to watch, but this was different.  
  
     The two opponents’ sizes didn't seem to matter at all, and Professor Elric had no trouble keeping up with the armoured man. At least, he did at first. As Harry watched, the armoured man began gaining ground, until he landed a blow on the young professor that sent him into the dirt.  
  
“Sorry brother, are you okay?” A shockingly young voice resounded from the armour, surprising Harry.  
  
“Yeah, I’m fine Al.” Professor Elric accepted the armoured man's offered hand and was pulled to his feet.  
  
_‘I guess that really is his brother,’_ Harry thought. _‘Though they don't seem at all alike.’_  
  
Professor Elric turned, noticing the bystanders for the first time.  
  
“Sorry,” he apologized. “Didn’t see you there.” He turned to his brother with a smile; the first real smile Harry had seen on him. “This is my brother, Alphonse.”  
  
“Pleased to meet you,” the young voice rang out.  
  
     It was slightly disconcerting to hear such a childish voice come from a hulking suit of armour. Harry did his best not to think about it.  
  
“Al, these are some of my students;” Professor Elric continued. “Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo, and Thalia Grace,” he introduced, pointing to each of them in turn. “And that’s Hagrid; he's another professor.”  
  
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Elric,” Hermione said with a nod.  
  
A laugh resonated from the armour. “Please, there’s no need to call me ‘mister’, I'm only fourteen. You can call me Al.”  
  
“You’re really only fourteen years old?” Ron asked in disbelief. “How are you so much taller than Professor Elric?”  
  
“HEY! WHO’RE YOU CALLING SHORT?!” Professor Elric whirled toward Ron with his fist raised, and Ron stepped back so quickly that he nearly fell over.  
  
“Brother!” Al grabbed his brother’s arm, preventing him from attacking the redhead. “Calm down! I’m sure he didn’t mean it like that.”  
  
Ron nodded hurriedly, and Al released his grumbling brother.  
  
“And will you stop calling me ‘professor’?” The aforementioned brother wrinkled his nose in disgust. “You’re making me sound old.”  
  
“So, Al,” Hermione jumped in, clearly eager to change the subject before Ron could further offend the short blond. “Why do you wear that armour?”  
  
“It’s a hobby,” Al responded.  
  
“Isn’t it really heavy?” Percy asked with a frown. “And it seems like it would get really hot in the summer; and probably really cold in the winter too.”  
  
“No, it’s no problem at all!” Al hurriedly assured them. “It helps me get stronger too!”  
  
“You must already be pretty strong if you can wear that all the time,” Harry said, impressed.  
  
“Hagrid,” Professor Elric interrupted abruptly. “You teach Care of Magical Creatures right?”  
  
Hagrid grinned widely. “That’s right!”  
  
“Magical creatures?” Al asked, his voice tinged with excitement. “Could I see some of them?”  
  
“Sure thing!” Hagrid grinned even wider, happy to have found someone to share his knowledge with.  
  
“Al,” Professor Elric warned, “we are not keeping any of the weird animals you find!”  
  
Al sighed. “Brother, you can be really heartless sometimes. What if one of them needs a home?”  
  
“Then it can find its own home!”  
  
“But don’t you think to have a magical creature as a pet would be interesting? You could study its behavior!”

  
“I study alchemy, not animal behavior; magical or not!”

  
     The brothers continued arguing as they walked towards Hagrid's hut. Their banter was light-hearted and playful; as if it was something they did often and maybe even enjoyed. As Harry watched Professor Elric playfully shove Al, he didn't see a professor at all. He saw a teenager not much older than himself, acting like the teenager that he was.

  
_‘He really is just a teenager,’_ Harry mused. _‘Even if he acts older than us, and is so serious all the time. He’s still a kid, but we all seem to forget that. And his brother–he sure doesn’t look it, but he's fourteen. And even with that ridiculously large armour on, he and Professor Elric are getting along completely normally.’ Harry watched the two brothers, a feeling of longing sweeping over him. ‘Maybe, if I’d had a brother like that…things would have been different. I wonder what my life would have been like if I hadn’t had to live alone for eleven years.’_


	22. You Really Put the 'Bro' in 'Broken'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Al attempts to make his brother less depressed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gave me fits…ugh. It’s one of my shortest ones so far. Looks I’m not out of my writer’s slump after all. Well, enjoy anyways. Hopefully, next chapter will be better.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don’t own the song ‘This is War’ by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

*<*<*>*>* - Begin/end flashback

 

 

** Edward **

 

“That armour _really_ doesn't make you tired?” Harry furrowed his brow. “I’d think that you’d be exhausted after walking around in it all day.”

Ed groaned inwardly as he tried to restrain his desire to strangle the inquisitive teenager. This must have been the fifth variation of the same question, but it _still didn’t stop._ Ed had thought that he and Al would be able to lose this particular group after leaving Hagrid’s hut, but they had only diminished in number. Now, as they took refuge near the Whomping Willow, there were three teens asking questions instead of six. Not that that was much better.

“No, it’s fine, I’m used to it by now.” Al, always the patient one, had said the same thing each time. And every time, Ed inwardly winced upon hearing those words. _I’m used to it._ Another thing that was his fault…

“Really?” The red-haired wizard asked curiously, leaning forward. “That must have taken a while. How long have you been wearing it?”

“About four years.”

“That’s pretty impressive,” Thalia remarked with an approving nod. “But it must be hard to move quietly.”

Al turned to his left to look at the black-haired girl. “Yeah,” he admitted. “I’ve learned to manage, though.”

“Why do your eyes glow?” Ron asked, leaning forward even more so that he was only a foot away from Al’s helmet.

“Uh–what?” Al leaned backward slightly, attempting to put more distance between him and the red-head. Ed straightened, startled. They didn’t usually have people asking about Al’s eyes–it was usually just the armour that threw people off.

“Your eyes,” Ron repeated, still staring intently. “Why do they glow red? I mean, your eyes aren’t _actually_ red and glowing, are they?”

“No, of course not,” Al replied. “My eye’s don’t actually glow, it just seems like they do because…I…have a light in my helmet–it’s really dark in here, so I put a light in my helmet to brighten it up some.”

_‘Well that was a pretty ridiculous excuse,’_ Ed thought, smiling with amusement. _‘Though I guess we’ve come up with weirder explanations for his armour…’_

“Why red though?” Harry asked. “It’s kind of…creepy.”

“I like red,” Al replied.

“I guess that’s one thing you two have in common,” Ron muttered, leaning back from Al.

Ed’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “What’s _that_ supposed to mean?”

“N-nothing,” Ron answered hurriedly, scooting backward on the ground.

“Brother,” Al warned, shifting to face Ed.

“Hey Al, are you as good of an Alchemist as Professor Elric?” Harry asked, steering the conversation away from anything related to Ed’s height.

“Would you _stop_ calling me that?” Ed groaned, rolling his eyes. “Seriously, just call me Ed. I’m two years older than you for crying out loud!”

“Yeah but…” Harry protested.

Ed glared at the boy, daring him to protest.

“I don’t have a problem with it,” Thalia declared.

“ _See?_ ” Ed threw his hands in the air. “ _She’s_ sensible.”

“Anyway,” Ron continued impatiently, “Which one of you is the better alchemist?”

“Brother is definitely the better alchemist,” Al answered.

“Yeah, but you’re the better fighter,” Ed added.

Thalia snickered. “Yeah, that was obvious.”

Ed glared at her. “It wasn’t _that_ obvious,” he retorted grumpily.

Thalia smirked. “Suuuure it wasn’t.”

“Don’t you have homework or something?” Ed asked crossly.

“We’re on break!” Ron waved his arm dismissively. “We don’t need to do it right now.”

“But you do need to do it eventually,” Thalia warned. “Or you’re going to have to cram on the last day of break.”

“Ugh,” Ron grumbled. “You sound like Hermione.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Thalia countered. When Ron couldn’t seem to find an answer, Thalia nodded. “Thought so.” She turned back to the Elric brothers. “Speaking of holidays, what do you do in Amestris for Christmas?”

“Oh, actually, we don’t celebrate Christmas in Amestris,” Al informed her.

Silence. The three students stared at the brothers, dumbfounded. After a minute of this, Ron burst out; “What kind of country do you two _live in?!”_

“How could you not have _Christmas?_ ” Thalia asked, shocked.

“And I thought _you_ three were weird,” Harry said to Thalia, shaking his head.

Ed frowned, annoyed. “Come on, it’s not _that_ big of a deal, is it? It’s just a holiday. I’m sure we have holidays that _you_ don’t celebrate.”

“Yeah,” Ron said, “But this is _Christmas!_ Everybody celebrates Christmas!”

“We don’t,” Ed reminded him. “I hadn’t even heard of Christmas until I got here.”  


“Seriously?” Thalia asked in disbelief. “Just how closed-off _is_ Amestris?”

Ed shrugged. “We’ve survived without Christmas for this long, you don’t need to act like it’s such a big deal.”

“But it _is_ a big deal!” Ron wailed, throwing his arms out. “It’s Christmas! It’s a time of celebration, and family, and gifts, and good food, and…”

“Charity?” Thalia offered, arching an eyebrow. “Good-will towards men?”

Ron dropped his arms and turned to her. “Yeah, that too.”

Ed rolled his eyes. “What are you even celebrating, anyway?”

“Well…” Thalia began, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “ _Technically,_ Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, who some people believe to be the savior of the world.”

“…Uh…what?” Now Ed was even more confused.

“It’s complicated,” Thalia said with a sigh. “Let’s leave it at that.”

“If you say so,” Ed said dubiously. _‘Weird countries with their weird traditions…’_

“C’mon Al, let’s go to the library.” Ed stood up and stretched his arms over his head, then began walking back to the castle; taking care to avoid the Tree of Wrath, as he had named it. “I have plenty of research notes I want to show you.”

“Alright.” Al stood up and followed his brother, waving to the still-sitting students. “See you later!” The three of them waved back as the two brothers walked towards the castle.

~o~O~o~

“Brother, are you alright?”

“Hm?” Ed looked up from his book. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

Al shifted, his armour rattling slightly in the quiet library. “Because I know _you._ You’re blaming yourself for what happened, aren’t you?”

Ed averted his eyes. “No, of course not,” he replied, wincing inwardly.

“Brother,” Al sighed. “I know you better than that.”

“Then you should know that I’m not an idiot Al!” Ed whipped his head around to look at his brother, but could only look into his eyes for a moment before he turned away quickly. “I know when something is my fault or not.”

Al didn’t speak for a moment, watching his brother worriedly. “I don’t know if you really _do_ though, Brother,” he eventually said.

“It doesn’t matter, Al,” Ed said. “I’m fine, really.”

“Do you really think I’m going to believe that? Ed, I’m your brother. You and I both know that you feel guilty about this, so just admit already!”

Ed dropped his gaze to the papers scattered on the table in front of him. For a minute there was silence, and then Ed spoke. “It _was_ my fault, Al. If I had only been a little bit quicker–”

“Brother!” Al interjected. “There was no way for you to know what was happening. No one thinks that is was your fault!”

“That doesn’t change anything,” Ed whispered. “Her family…they lost her because I wasn’t paying enough attention.”

“Brother.” Al’s voice was softer now. “I’m sure if you asked them, they wouldn’t blame you either.”

“I know, Al.” Ed tightened his hold his book, wrinkling the page. “I know that they don’t blame me. But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t.”

Al’s couldn’t show facial expressions with his armour, but he had gotten good at conveying his emotions all the same. Ed could practically _feel_ the disapproval radiating from his brother.

“Ed, when are you going to stop trying to take the blame for everything?” Al scolded.

“I only take the blame for things that are my fault!” Ed retorted.

“That’s my _point_ , Brother!” Al said in exasperation. “You think that _everything_ is your fault if you had _anything_ to do with it!” He lowered his voice, remembering that they were in a library. “You spoke with her family, didn’t you?”

“Yeah…”

“And they didn’t blame you, did they? So there’s no reason for you to blame yourself!”

Ed clenched his flesh hand. “That’s not the point, Al.”

“Then what _is_ the point?”

“The point is that I could have saved her, and I didn’t!” Ed slammed his fist onto the library table. “I-I could have saved her, Al.” His voice shook, displaying his despair. “I could have saved her, and–I didn’t.” Ed’s shoulders slumped, and he bowed his head, allowing his hair to cover his face.

Al was silent for a moment before answering. “I know, Brother,” he finally responded. “But you know that you can’t let this get you distracted.” Al placed one heavy hand on Ed’s shoulder. “Part of the reason you’re here is to catch Sirius Black. So catch the one who _is_ to blame, instead of feeling guilty all the time.”

Ed felt a small smile settle upon his face, and at that moment, he realized how much he had _missed_ his younger brother; and how much he _needed_ him there in order to keep going. Ed hated this stupid assignment, and he hated that he still had _months_ of it left, because it was keeping him away from his brother, and he _hated_ it.

“I’ve _missed_ you, Al,” he whispered. Ed didn’t usually get emotional, but with the weight of everything that had happened, and _finally_ being with his brother again, he felt all of his suppressed emotions come crashing down on him.

“I’ve missed you too, Brother,” Al said, his voice wavering.

Ed growled in frustration. “If only there was some way for you to–” he stopped abruptly, an idea occurring to him.

“What?” Al asked. “What is it?”

Ed grinned at his brother. “Al, I think I might have found a way for you to stay.”

“What?!” Al exclaimed. “How?”

“The school needs extra security, right?” Ed pointed out, kicking back in his chair.

“Yeah, I suppose so,” Al said uncertainly.

“Well my dear brother, how would you feel about providing that assistance?” As he spoke, Ed was sure that if Al possessed a human body, then he would be grinning from ear to ear.

~o~O~o~

As Ed lay in bed that night, trying to fall asleep, but not wanting to see the same guilt-induced dreams; he remembered Al’s words: _“They didn’t blame you, so there’s no reason for you to blame yourself!”_ As much as he tried to believe them, it was hard to shake the guilt. Especially after seeing Susan’s family, after talking to them…

*<*<*>*>*

_“You’re Susan White’s family, right?” It took every ounce of Ed’s willpower to keep his voice from shaking as he stood before the grieving family._

_The father, trying to hold it together for his family._

_“I-I’m the one who–found Susan.”_

_The mother, openly weeping her child’s death._

_“She–was one of my students, and I–I spent a lot of time with her…”_

_The brother; despair and helplessness evident in every inch of his body._

_“I wanted to say–I’m sorry.” Ed choked over the last word, his guilt threatening to crush him._

_And the baby, blissfully unaware of why her mother’s arms were shaking too much to hold her._

_“If I–if I had gotten to her faster, then maybe–I might have been able to save her.”_

_And their eyes…their eyes were the worst._

_“I’m sorry…” His voice was shaking so badly that he could barely get the words out. “I’m so sorry…”_

_Their eyes, that he couldn’t bear to look into. Eyes that he knew must be full of blame. Blame that he knew he deserved. Anger, blame, conviction–and he deserved all of it. But even knowing that he deserved it, he couldn’t stand to look._

_“Stop.” The voice lacked any conviction. It was weak, tired, and breaking from unshed tears. “If you want someone to blame, then blame Sirius Black.”_

_Ed forced himself to look up and see that it was the father who had spoken. And their eyes…the eyes that should have been full of accusations and blame…instead, they only looked full of sorrow._

_“If you were her friend, then you should know that she wouldn’t want you to feel guilty.” The brother, his voice surprisingly steady, spoke as well. “My sister–” his voice broke, a sob threatening to escape. “She wouldn’t want a friend to carry that guilt.”_

_Why weren’t they blaming him? Their daughter was dead because of him! How could they not see that? Why…why were_ they _the ones comforting him?_

_The mother was offering a shaky nod, seemingly not able to speak, yet still agreeing with her son and husband._

_But_ why? _Why were the denying that he had anything to do with Susan’s death?_ _And how? How could they shake their heads and say that he was free from blame when he so obviously wasn’t? He should have felt relief that they had decided not to place that blame on him. But instead, he only felt more guilt, dragging him down into a sea of despair, and whispering that he didn’t deserve to come back up._

*<*<*>*>*

But now…now he thought that maybe, _maybe,_ Al was right. Maybe his brother was right when he said that Ed shouldn’t be carrying all of the blame. Deep down, Ed knew that there would always be a part of him that regretted not moving quicker, not running faster, and arriving too late. But maybe, just _maybe,_ he could let that burden of guilt be lightened; at least a little bit.


	23. You Really Put the 'Break' in 'Breakthrough'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there are dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don’t own the song ‘This is War’ by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

*<*<*>*>* - Begin/end flashback

 

 

**Percy**

_A young girl, no older than ten years, sits at a wooden table, a book spread out in front of her. Sunlight streams in through the window, providing light to the cheery kitchen. The girl’s brow furrows in concentration, her light green eyes bright with intelligence. A strand of dark red-brown hair falls across the page as she leans forward, and she absentmindedly pushes it behind her ear, never losing concentration._

_The door to the kitchen bursts open with a bang, and two boys enter. They are obviously her brothers; with the same tanned skin and high cheekbones, though the older looking boy has light brown hair, and the younger has brown eyes. The girl looks up, frowning in annoyance at their interruption._

_“Still studying?” The brown-eyed brother teases, grinning at his sister. “Trying to get into Ravenclaw or something?”_

_The girl smirks at him, annoyance vanishing as quickly as it has come. “Unlike_ you, _I’m planning on doing_ well _in school, and succeeding after I graduate.”_

_The brown-eyed brother wrinkles his nose at her as the older brother laughs. Then he turns serious, and looks at his sister with worried eyes._

_“Don’t overwork yourself,” he warns. “You’re still a kid, you don’t need to worry about things like that yet.”_

_The girl smiles up at him. “I know what I’m doing,” she assures. “I just want to be sure that I have good future.”_

_The younger brother, no longer annoyed, grins and ruffles his sister’s hair. “You sure are smart, sis. But you need to lighten up some! Come outside, we have an extra broom you can use!”_

_The girl sighs in defeat and closes her book. “Fine.” As soon as she is clear of the table, she dashes out the door. “Hurry up, slowpokes!” She calls over her shoulder._

_Grinning, the younger brother chases after her. The older brother pauses, turning back to look at the book laying abandoned on the table, its worn cover barely readable. The title is indecipherable, but underneath the words; a fading ouroboros symbol is visible. The boy frowns and reaches his hand towards the book, but at the calls of his siblings, he abandons it follows them outside._

Percy woke with a start, jerking up into a sitting position. He sat, disoriented and confused for a few seconds, trying to make sense of his dream. The dream had had an odd feeling to it…and he was left with a sense of foreboding that he didn’t understand.

_‘I haven’t had a dream like that in so long…what the heck was that all about?’_ Percy fell back onto his bed and stared at the crimson curtains. _‘Add that to the list of mysteries. Maybe I’ll talk to Nico and Thalia about it in the morning.’_ He turned onto his side and closed his eyes, but found that sleep was evading him.

He lay staring into the darkness for what felt like hours, grasping at the sleep that kept slipping away. The only sound throughout the room was the gentle breathing of his sleeping roommates, until an annoyed sigh drifted from Nico’s bed.

“Nico?” Percy whispered, pulling his curtains back. “Are you awake too?”

There was a rustling as Nico drew his curtains back from around his bed. “Yeah. I’ve been up for a while. Couldn’t sleep. You?”

“I had a dream that woke me up.”

Nico nodded in understanding, not unfamiliar with strange dreams. “So…what was your dream about?”

Percy shook his head. “We should wait, I need to tell Thalia too.”

“Right.” There was another rustling sound, and as Percy’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could see that Nico had pulled his knees up to his chest. The two of them sat in silence before Percy spoke.

“Hey, Nico…do you miss anyone back home?”

The boy looked up, his face ghostly pale in the moonlight. “Yeah, I guess I do. I mean, I didn’t really have friends before the war with Gaea, but now, after–well, I guess people finally started to accept me. So yeah, I guess I really do miss that.”

Percy smirked. “Are you sure you don’t miss anyone in particular?”

Nico growled softly, but Percy was sure that if the room had been brighter, then he would have seen a blush on the younger boy’s face. “What about you?” Nico asked. “I know you must miss Annabeth.”

“Not just Annabeth,” Percy said longingly. “I miss my mom and my step-dad, and the rest of the seven, and…pretty much everyone back at Camp Half-Blood, I guess.”

“Even Clarisse?” Nico asked, amusement evident in his tone.

“Even Clarisse,” Percy said with a laugh. “She’s not so bad–she has some good in her, you just have to dig…really deep…to find it.”

Nico laughed quietly. “Yeah, you have to dig _really_ deep. But when it matters, she’s a good person.”

“They all are,” Percy said, his smile turning sorrowful. “I just want to get this quest over with so we can get back to them.”

In the darkness, Percy could barely make out Nico’s nod of agreement. “Me too Percy,” he replied softly. “Me too.”

~o~O~o~

“Are you feeling alright Percy?” Hermione asked worriedly as he stumbled into the Great Hall and sat across from her.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” Percy rubbed his eyes for the tenth time since waking up. “I didn’t sleep well, and I had a weird dream.”

Thalia looked up, eyes wide. She gave him a look. _We’ll talk about it later._ Percy nodded in agreement.

“I had a weird dream too,” Ron said. “We were at Hogwarts, but it was different. You three weren’t here.” he nodded at the Americans. “And neither was Professor El–er–Edward. And Peeves was gone too, for some reason. Oh, and Harry’s eyes weren’t green.”

“The rest of that could make sense,” Hermione said in confusion, “But why would Harry’s eyes change color?”

Ron shrugged and took a bite of sausage. “Don’t ask me, Hermione. It was a dream.”

Hermione rolled her eyes as she took a bite of toast. “Most dreams have rational explanations. They show your fears, you hidden anxieties, your hopes for the future–”

“Oh come on Hermione,” Ron interjected with a snicker. “You don’t actually believe that, do you?”

“I think I agree with Ron,” Harry put in. “Most dreams are just weird.”

“Maybe you just aren’t looking hard enough,” Hermione huffed.

“Now you sound like Trelawney,” Ron teased.

Hermione went red. “I do not sound like that crazy fortune-teller! Dreams do not predict the future, but they can show your subconscious feelings!”

Ron smirked. “Sure, Hermione.”

Hermione huffed again and began going off on another tirade about the Divinations professor. Ron smirked away, occasionally throwing in a teasing comment in between bites of food.

Percy watched their friendly bickering fondly. With the depressing air around the castle, it was good to see that his friends were still able to smile. He, however, was not able to grin as cheerfully as before. Percy couldn’t shake the overwhelming thought that the deaths of Susan and Luna were his fault. And though he knew it was impossible, he spent every waking moment trying to find a way to fix his mistake.

From the way Nico and Thalia had been acting, they felt the same way. Percy only wished that they knew what they had done wrong; and how to fix it.

_‘We will make it right; somehow,’_ Percy thought. _‘We’ll catch whoever is responsible, and we’ll make her pay. I only wish we knew who exactly we’re fighting…and what it is that she wants.’_

~o~O~o~

As it turned out, the demigods didn’t have a chance to discuss Percy’s dream until late that night. They couldn’t risk anyone overhearing them, and there was _always_ someone in the common room. Even now, as they huddled around the fire, two first-years were sitting on a couch not far away, working to complete their homework.

_“So, Percy.”_ Thalia slid into the seat next to Percy, glancing uneasily at the two first-years. _“You had a dream.”_

Nico materialized next to her, claiming a spot close to the roaring fire. _“Did you learn anything important?”_ Nico, usually so good at hiding his emotions, couldn’t contain the hints of eagerness and desperation that leaked through.

Percy fiddled with Riptide, which had become a habit since the attack. _“I don’t know…maybe. It was confusing, like all of our dreams are.”_

_“Well, what did you see?”_ Thalia leaned forward, tightly gripping the arms of her chair.

_“There was a girl,”_ Percy began hesitantly. _“A girl that I’ve never seen before.”_

Thalia and Nico glanced at each other. It wasn’t uncommon for demigods to dream of people they had never seen before. _“And?”_ They both asked.

_“I don’t know,”_ Percy said helplessly. _“Nothing really special happened. She was sitting at a table reading a book, and then two boys came in–her brothers, I think–and they talked a little, and then she stopped reading and went outside with them. That’s it.”_

Thalia frowned at the fire. _“Well…what did they talk about?”_

_“Nothing important–her brothers said she was working too hard, she said she was fine–that kind of thing.”_

Thalia’s frown turned into a full-on glare. _“There_ has _to be more…think about the book she was reading. Was there anything special about it?”_

Percy bit his lip. _“Now that you mention it…there was a weird symbol on it.”_

Thalia perked up. _“What did it look like? Can you describe it?”_

Percy furrowed his brow, trying to recall exactly what had been on the cover of the book. It had been a strange symbol…one that almost seemed familiar.

_“I don’t exactly remember,”_ He said in frustration. _“I think…it was a snake of some kind.”_

_“Was it the Death Eaters symbol?”_ Nico asked, eyes wide.

_“No…it was different.”_ Percy racked his memory, trying to recall the shape. _“It was really faded…but I think…maybe it was a snake forming a circle?”_

Nico’s expression brightened. _“Was it a snake eating its own tail?”_

Percy’s head shot up. _“Yeah, that’s it!”_

_“I know that symbol,”_ Nico said eagerly. _“It’s the ouroboros, a symbol that represents infinity, or wholeness.”_

_“Well, great.”_ Thalia threw her hands in the air. _“How is that supposed to help us?”_

Percy shrugged in defeat, and Nico cast his gaze to the fire.

_“What connection could your dream have to Alex?”_ Thalia wondered aloud, pulling on her hair in frustration. _“Maybe…”_

_“What?”_ Percy asked. _“Whatever it is, tell us! We need anything!”_

_“Well, maybe…”_ Thalia hesitated uncertainly.

_“What?”_ Nico asked impatiently.

Thalia shrugged helplessly. _“Well, I was thinking–Hecate gave us pictures of her known demigod children. We could see if any of them resemble the people in your dream, but it’s doubtful.”_

_“Let’s try it anyway,”_ Nico said. _“We don’t want to risk missing anything.”_

Thalia climbed the stairs to the girls’ dormitories, re-entering the common room with the few photos provided by Hecate. _“It’s a long shot, but it’s all I can think of.”_

After a hasty glance to be sure the two studying first-years were preoccupied, Thalia carefully spread out the three pictures; their only clues about Alex. Percy leaned over the faces, studying them closely. The first; a young boy with blond hair and blue eyes–definitely not. The second; an even younger girl with black hair and eyes–no, not her either. But the third…an older teenaged girl with dark, red-brown hair and pale green eyes…if she was several years younger…

Percy picked up the picture to look it over more closely. The physical attributes were similar, but the eyes…the eyes that had been lively and mischievous in his dream…in this picture, they looked angry and dejected. The mouth that had smiled so readily looked set in a permanent frown. But despite all this, Percy could see the resemblance.

_“This one,”_ he said confidently, his excitement growing. _“I’m sure that this is the girl from my dream!”_

Thalia snatched the picture to examine it. _“This picture was taken nearly fifteen years ago…well, fifteen years ago, our time. In this time, that’s decades in the future…you know what, never mind. The point is, we now have a better idea of who our target is.”_

_“What do we know about her?”_ Nico asked, taking the picture from Thalia.

Thalia picked up the lone piece of paper that held the girl’s information. _“Not much. Her name is Elsie Taylor, she was born in 1980, and she has two half-brothers who are a few years older than her. According to this she attended Hogwarts, graduated, and has been spending the rest of her life traveling. That’s all the information we have on her.”_

_“Well that’s not very helpful,”_ Percy sighed.

_“Yeah,”_ Nico agreed. _“That isn’t anything to go off of. Knowing who her family is and that she went to Hogwarts doesn’t help us.”_ He kicked an overstuffed chair in frustration. _“We can’t even look at her school records because she hasn’t–”_ Nico froze. _“Thalia…”_ he said slowly. _“What year did you say she was born?”_

Thalia looked back at the paper. _“1980. Why, what does that…”_ She trailed off, eyes widening.

Percy stared at the two of them, quickly doing the math in his head. If she was born in 1980, and they were in the end of 1993, then that would mean…Percy inhaled sharply.

_“She’s thirteen years old!”_ Percy exclaimed. _“But that would mean–”_

Thalia nodded, pale-faced. _“She’s at Hogwarts_ right now _. She’s a student.”_

_“So…what do we do?”_ Nico was still gripping the picture, wrinkling the edges. _“And how did we never think of this before?!”_

Percy shook his head, shocked into silence by the sudden realization. _“I mean…there isn’t really anything we_ can _do, right?”_ Thalia and Nico looked at him, and he hurried to explain. _“We can’t risk doing anything that might change the future, so…we just have to act like we always have.”_

_“Well…”_ Nico said slowly. _“On the outside, at least.”_

Even Thalia looked confused. _“What do you mean?”_ She asked warily.

Nico stared intently at the fire, quite obviously thinking hard. _“We can’t approach her directly, and gods forbid that we actually interact with her–but maybe we could look into her without her knowing.”_

Thalia grinned. _“I get what you’re saying. If we find out what she’s studying–what books she checks out at the library, what her interests are–we may get a better idea of what her plans are.”_

_“It’s a long-shot,”_ Percy said grimly, _“but it’s the only shot we have right now.”_

Nico nodded. _“A shot in the dark. But at least now we have a target.”_


	24. You Really Put the 'Trust' in 'Distrustful'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Golden Trio engages in the often-practiced art of eavesdropping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lateness of this chapter; I've been busy and haven't had access to the internet. I'll try to get the next one up quicker to make up for it.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don’t own the song ‘This is War’ by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

*<*<*>*>* - Begin/end flashback

 

**Harry**

“It’s hard to believe that the break is almost over,” Percy commented idly after Dumbledore reminded them that the Hogwarts express would be arriving later that day.

“You all  _did_ finish your homework, didn’t you?” Hermione asked, her suspicious frown making it clear that she already knew the answer.

“Uhh…” Ron began, freezing with a bite of eggs halfway to his mouth. “Most of it?”

“The start of term is tomorrow!” Hermione scolded, glaring in irritation when Ron gave an exaggerated sigh. “You should have finished before now!”

“Hermione is right,” Percy agreed, biting into his (blue?) toast. “You shouldn’t procrastinate so much.”

“Since when are you on  _her_  side?” Ron asked, sounding hurt.

“I’m not on anyone’s side,” Percy replied, rolling his eyes. “I just think that it would be best not to have to rush to complete all your homework the day before term starts.”

“I don’t have to finish  _all_  of it,” Ron protested, waving his fork at Percy. “I only have to finish a Potions essay and…Alchemy homework…” He trailed off into a groan, dropping his fork. “I almost forgot about our Alchemy homework…how am I going to get all that done?”

“See, this is what I’ve been saying!” Hermione chastised. “If you had planned this out better, you wouldn’t have to worry about it! Especially Alchemy–weren’t you paying attention in class when Edward said that if you want to learn alchemy then you’re going to have to be diligent?”

“Yeah,” Ron whined, slumping back in his chair. “But alchemy is  _hard!_  I barely understood half of what he taught us last class!”

“It  _is_ really hard to understand, Hermione,” Harry interjected. “Even you were having trouble with it.”

“Well at least I’m paying attention and putting effort into it,” Hermione snapped back. “How much effort have  _you_ all put into his class before you came to me for answers?” She whipped her head around to look at Nico and Thalia.

“Hey, calm down,” Thalia said, lifting her chin off of her hand. “I’m sure that they’re trying.” She looked past Hermione at Ron, who hadn’t yet gone back to his breakfast. “And Ron, if the class is too hard for you, you should just drop it. It’s not going to get any easier.”

“Drop it?” Hermione sounded horrified. “But why would you drop it?! Do you have any idea how useful alchemy could be later on?”

“It would be useful,” Nico said, startling Harry by speaking up for the first time. The pale boy was always so quiet that sometimes Harry forgot he was even there. “But you would be able to manage without it,” Nico continued. “Besides, Edward did say that plenty of people wouldn’t be able to handle learning alchemy.”

“Not all of us are as smart as you, Hermione,” Harry reminded his friend. “I know I’m not. I might even drop the class if it gets any worse than this.”

“You what?!” Hermione cried in dismay, slamming her pumpkin juice down on the table so hard that their dishes rattled. Harry found that he was to be sitting across the table from her, rather than beside her like Ron. “But aren’t any of you thinking of how this could be used if You-Know-Who shows up again?”

“Like I said, you could get by with magic,” Thalia repeated in the same calm tone, her chin coming back to rest on her hand and her eyes closing. “Besides, think about it. Using alchemy in a battle isn’t exactly practical. You have to take the time to draw out a circle, when you could be using your wand. Sure, it'd be a great skill to have if you ever lose your wand, but not something that could be used in a fight; unless you can do it like Edward, or if you’re willing to tattoo circles on your hands.” She wrinkled her nose at the prospect.

Hermione withdrew, temper slightly abated. “Well fine then,” She huffed, eyebrows drawn together in annoyance. “Quit if you want, but I’m going to complete the class.” Hermione lifted her chin slightly. “Then at least one of us will have knowledge that may save us later.”

“Speaking of alchemy,” Ron said, straightening up in his chair. “what do you think of Alphonse?”

Hermione sipped her pumpkin juice before answering. “He’s…interesting,” she decided, nodding thoughtfully. “Definitely interesting.”

“Weird is more like it,” Ron snorted, raising his eyebrows. “Who even wears armour anymore? Much less all the time!”

“He is really strange,” Harry agreed, looking towards the staff table where the boy in armour was seated. “But he seems nice enough. Nicer than Edward, even.”

“I don’t understand how they can be brothers,” Ron puzzled, shaking his head. “Alphonse is  _way_ taller, and he’s supposed to be the younger one!”

“I’m sure Alphonse looks like Edward under the armour,” Thalia reasoned, opening her eyes again with a sigh. “He just hasn’t taken it off, so you wouldn’t know.”

“That’s another thing,” Harry pondered, turning back to his friends. “How does wearing that armour help with alchemy training?” There was a pause as they all looked at Hermione.

“Well?” Ron asked, nudging her shoulder. “You’re the alchemy expert, right?”

Hermione straightened, looking around at her friends in surprise. “W-well–” She began, startled. “Maybe it has something to do with what Edward told us about training the body in order to train the mind–maybe the armour is helping him get stronger.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Percy said, nodding in agreement.

“Yeah, I remember that lesson.” Ron groaned, placing his face in his hands. “‘Train the body’ he said–and then gave us the weirdest homework ever.”

“Yes, exercise isn’t usually considered homework,” Hermione conceded, wincing at the memory. “But it makes sense considering everything else he told us.”

“You needed to get in shape anyways,” Percy teased with a grin, leaning back comfortably in his seat.

“Yeah, it’s easy enough for you,” Ron grumbled, looking up from his hands to glare at him. “You’re used to that kind of thing.” Percy merely smirked in response.

Hermione rolled her eyes with a resigned smile. “I’m going to the library,” she said, finishing off her pumpkin juice before standing up. “I wanted to do some more research for Buckbeak’s trial.”

“Hold up!” Ron grabbed a piece of toast and dashed after her. “I’ll help too.”

Harry stood to follow them. “Me too.” He turned to the Americans. “Are you three coming?”

“We’ll be there in a minute,” Thalia said. She waved her hand towards Percy, who was somehow still eating. “We wouldn’t want Percy to starve, now would we?”

Harry grinned, then followed his friends out of the Great Hall.

~o~O~o~

The return of students from winter break only served to add to the tense atmosphere in the castle. To Harry’s relief, nearly all of the students had returned to the school. It seemed that even after two deaths, most parents still trusted Dumbledore to keep their children safe.

“I hear that Dumbledore sent letters out promising extra security,” Hermione commented at the feast that night.

“What more security can they give?” Harry asked, thinking of the strict rules Dumbledore had enforced lately. “We’ve already got dementors patrolling the grounds, and now we always have teachers patrolling the grounds–what else can he do?”

Hermione shook her head, stumped. “I don’t–” she cut herself off as Dumbledore stood from his place at the head of the teacher’s table.

“Returning students,” the headmaster began gravely, clasping his hands in front of him. “I am pleased to see that most of you are strong enough to return, despite recent dangers. As your headmaster, it is my duty to do everything in my power to ensure your safety. Therefore, several new rules have been put into place that will help to protect us all.” Dumbledore gazed out at the Great Hall, blue eyes serious and stern. “I expect you to abide by these rules in all circumstances, no exceptions.”

His gaze fell on the Weasley twins, who for once did not look the least bit inclined to crack a smile. “These rules are simple, and you should have no problem following them. I am sure all of you, exempting any first-years, remember the incident that took place last year. The rules for this scenario are quite similar. You will be escorted between classes by teachers, and no one is to go anywhere alone.

“In addition, no one is to exit the castle without a teacher’s consent, including for Quidditch practice, which will be supervised by a teacher. By extension, this means that all future Hogsmeade visits have been cancelled.” Dumbledore was forced to pause once again as protests rang out from the students. Once they had quieted down, he continued. “I assure you that this is in the interests of your safety, and I hope that you come to understand.

“Lastly,” Dumbledore said as he gestured to the staff table behind him, “I would like to welcome Alphonse Elric, Professor Elric’s brother, who will be providing us with extra security.”

The suit of armour offered a small wave, and murmurs encompassed the Great Hall.

“So he’ll be staying for a while then,” Ron speculated, a thoughtful look on his face. “I guess we’ll have plenty of time to figure him out.”

Harry nodded in agreement, though he was more concerned with the arriving food. As they enjoyed the feast as always, Harry didn’t miss the conspiring looks exchanged by the three demigods. Not for the first, nor the last time; he found himself wondering what more there was to know about his three friends.

~o~O~o~

The first few days of January were odd, to say the least. There was adjusting to the new routine, which reminded Harry acutely of the previous year. Harry himself found his spirits lifted by his weekly meetings with Professor Lupin, and his progress with learning the Patronus Charm; though he usually left feeling weak and shaky. Knowing that he was doing something to fight, no matter how small, encouraged him greatly.

After the students and teachers alike settled into the changes that had been made, the month flew by swiftly. Classes progressed as usual; Hermione continued to be frustrated by Divinations, where they had now started Palmistry. Harry and Ron both had finalized their decision to drop Alchemy, despite Hermione’s protests. They offered her some consolation by promising to use their free period in the library, researching for Buckbeak’s hearing.

The first week of February arrived quickly, and with it, the return of Harry’s Firebolt; barely in time for Gryffindor’s first match against Ravenclaw. The day of the match dawned cool and clear, perfect Quidditch conditions. Thanks to the return of his Firebolt, Harry had no trouble securing Gryffindor’s victory; and the afterparty in the Gryffindor common room was a welcome relief from the stressful events of late.

“Where d’you reckon our American friends have run off to?” George (or Fred) asked, his arm still slung around Harry’s shoulder.

“I dunno,” Harry responded with a frown. “They disappear like that sometimes. I’m sure they’ll turn up.”

_‘I wish I knew_ why _they disappear like that,’_ he thought forlornly  _‘and what it is that they do.’_

Harry peered around the crowded common room, trying to spot one of the heads of black in the crowd. Unfortunately, he was not nearly tall enough to see over all of the Gryffindor heads. Pushing through the crowd, he finally spotted the three as they retreated into the boys dormitory.

Frowning, Harry made his way towards them, but let out a startled yell when a hand appeared seemingly out of nowhere and yanked him over to the wall. Turning, he saw that it was Ron, with Hermione next to him.

“Don’t interrupt them yet,” Ron hissed urgently, glancing around anxiously at the crowded room. “We haven’t heard anything yet.” His friend edged along the wall towards the door, pulling a confused Harry along with him. They stopped outside the door, Hermione on the opposite side.

Harry frowned in bewilderment, pulling his wrist out of Ron’s grasp. “Er…what is it that we’re doing?”

Ron turned away from the door to face him. “Those three are always sneaking off and having private little discussions in  _Greek._  Don’t you want to find out what it is that they’re talking about?”

“But they’re talking in Greek,” Harry said, still confused. “How are we going to understand them?”

“I-I’ve been working on a translation spell.” Hermione said uneasily, twisting her wand in her hands. “I didn’t tell either of you about it because I knew that you’d want to snoop right away–”

“Of course we do, Hermione!” Ron exclaimed, throwing his arms out and nearly clocking a passing first-year in the head. “Our friends are acting suspicious!”

“But we really shouldn’t be intruding into they’re private life!” Hermione protested, stepping closer to Ron. “Don’t you remember what happened last time we decided we to look into someone’s private life?”

“But this is different,” Ron argued.

Hermione’s expressions tightened, and her fist clenched around her wand. “I only think that maybe we should respect their privacy a bit more.”

“If you two don’t quiet down they’re going to hear you,” Harry reminded his friends.

Ron, who had opened his mouth to deliver another retort, shut it quickly. “Well Hermione?” He asked quietly, leaning forward to be heard over the noise behind them. “Are you going to do it?”

Hermione hesitated, pressing her lips together and glancing around as if looking for an escape.

“Now is the best time,” Harry pressed, fully onboard with the plan despite just having been told about it. He waved his arm at their celebrating housemates. “They’re less likely to hear us over the noise.”

Hermione stomped her foot in agitation. “Oh, alright!” She finally burst out, though she remembered to keep her volume down. She pointed her wand at the two boys and murmured the spell, before doing the same to herself. “It isn’t the most advanced spell, so it might not work perfectly,” Hermione warned as they leaned closer to the door.

The muffled sounds of speech reached their ears, sounding distorted and odd. Harry furrowed his brow in concentration, trying to decipher what he was hearing. He managed to catch what sounded like ‘Ron’s bed curtains’ from Percy, thought that didn’t make any sense. He thought he heard Thalia say…wormtail? what did that mean?

Harry would have growled in frustration if he weren’t concerned about making more noise. Between the celebration happening right next to them, the closed door between them, and the less-than-perfect translation spell, it was nearly impossible to understand anything. Harry nearly fell backwards when an unexpected outburst of speech from Percy caught him off guard.

_“We aren’t killing anyone!”_

Silence.From Ron and Hermione’s shocked expressions, Harry judged that they had heard the same thing. Thalia murmured something, probably a consolation, but Harry couldn’t make out what she had said. Footsteps abruptly neared the door, and the eavesdroppers scrambled away from the door, just managing to disappear into the crowd before the door opened.

Though they hadn’t been able to say anything, the three friends had come to a silent, obvious decision.  _We’re definitely talking about that later._


	25. You Really Put the 'Ache' in 'Teacher'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ed questions his existence…again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don’t own the song ‘This is War’ by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

*<*<*>*>* - Begin/end flashback

 

**Edward**

_“Professor!” Susan waved her hand at Ed as he entered the library, calling him over to her table. “Over here!” The girl was sitting with a book opened in front of her, and papers spread all over the table. It was a familiar scene, one that Ed saw on a daily basis._

_Edward walked over to join her. “Do you need something?” He asked with a smile._

_“Can’t I just enjoy your company?” Susan asked, returning his smile._

_“I suppose,” Ed laughed as he set his books on the table._

_“…Hey, Professor?” Susan asked, turning worried brown eyes to meet his._

_“Yeah?” Ed asked, puzzled by her sudden change in mood._

_Susan turned in her chair so that she was facing him fully. “You wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to me, right?”_

_Edward blinked, startled. “No, of course not,” he replied._

_The worry on Susan’s face turned to sadness, her eyes shimmering with tears and her lip quivering. “Then why didn’t you save me?” She whispered, slowly rising from her chair._

_Ed felt a cold hand clench his heart, and he froze in horror._

_Crimson blood spilled from Susan’s heart, dripping down to form a puddle of red at her feet. “Why didn’t you save me?” She repeated, her voice a hoarse whisper._

_Tears began to fall from her eyes now dull eyes, and her once vibrant skin turned grey and lifeless. Susan took a step forward. Edward flinched at the clacking sound as it echoed through the library, and took a stumbling step back. As the noise faded, the room did as well, leaving an endless expanse of black._

_“I needed help, and you weren’t there…”_

_Clack; forward. Stumble; back._

_“Didn't you worry about me? Didn’t you care?”_

_Clack; forward. Step; back._

_Edward struggled to find words of defense, something to say, anything; but he couldn’t. Because she was right. Everything she said; it was all the truth._

_“You didn’t save me…”_

_Clack. Step._

_“And you didn’t save Nina…”_

_Clack. Step._

_“And you can’t even save Al…” Susan halted her advance, glaring at Edward with her sunken eyes. “Don’t you care about us?” Her voice was no longer a rasping whisper, but now a loud accusation._

_“I_ will _save Al!” Ed cried in protest. “I’m going to save him, I–”_

_“Then why is it taking so long?” An echoing voice interrupted._

_Ed turned in shock to see the familiar suit of armour that housed his brother’s soul. “A-Al, I…”_

_“Why is it taking so long, Brother?” Al asked again, armour clanking as he stepped forward. “I’ve been stuck like this for four years, and here you are wasting time playing teacher!”_

_“I know, Al,” Ed said desperately, reaching his arm out to his brother. “I promise, as soon as I finish this stupid assignment–”_

_“Is that all I was, Professor?”_

_Horrified, Ed froze in the act of reaching towards Al and looked once more at Susan._

_“Just a stupid assignment?” Susan asked, sounding on the brink of tears once again. “A waste of time?”_

_“No–no of course not!” Edward cried. “Of course you–of course not!”_

_“So is all of this–” Al waved his arms, indicating the school around them. “–Another countries’ problems–is all of this more important than your own brother?”_

_“N-no–I mean–stop it!” Ed yelled, falling to his knees._

_“Professor Elric!”_

Ed jolted awake, falling from his seat and landing on the floor in an undignified heap.

“Oh…are you alright?” A feminine voice asked worriedly.

“Yeah…fine,” Ed replied, putting his hand out to get his bearings. He found the desk to his left and pulled himself up, facing the girl who had woken him.

“What is it?” He asked Hermione, swaying slightly from his abrupt transition.

“Oh–well,” Hermione began, flustered. “It’s–I mean, our class is–”

Eyes widening, Ed whipped out his watch. _‘Oh. I guess I slept a long time then.’_ Looking past Hermione, Ed saw his four other students standing right inside the door. “Right, sorry about that,” he apologized.

 Edward waved his hands toward the desks, and the five remaining students hurriedly took their seats. Ed was quite pleased that this class, one of his largest, had been cut completely in half; going from ten students to five. Di Angelo, Granger, Jackson, Longbottom, and Malfoy – those five had persisted throughout the most difficult lessons.

 Ed allowed himself a smirk as he faced the class. They had lasted so far, but it wasn’t going to get any easier. And Ed was looking forward to testing their limits.

“Today we will be talking about different types of alchemy,” Ed announced. He wasn’t able to get any farther before three hands were in the air. Ed barely managed to contain his sigh. “Yes, Longbottom?”

“W-well, sir,” The boy stammered, “what do you mean by ‘different types’? Isn’t all alchemy the same?”

“Not even close,” Ed scoffed. “Remember, alchemy is the science of understanding, deconstructing, and reconstructing matter, and not all matter is the same. Alchemy can be used for all sorts of matter, and every alchemist chooses a different field of expertise.

“For example,” Edward continued, clasping his hands behind his back. “My commanding officer specializes in flame alchemy, another alchemist I know specializes in stone transmutations, and I once met a man who specialized in water alchemy. No alchemist could possibly learn how to apply alchemy to everything they come across, so instead, you pick one area to study and master.” Ed turned to the chalkboard and began writing. “At the end of today’s class, you will each pick an area that interests you and begin researching it. By the end of the month, you should be able to complete basic transmutations with little to no trouble.”

Ed turned to face the class again, smirking at their eager expressions. _‘Don’t get too excited. It’s not like this is going to be easy for you.’_

 Sure enough, by the end of the class, none of the five were looking quite so happy about their progression.

“Alright, your homework is to pick one of the area's that we discussed and begin researching it.” Ed tossed his chalk into a desk drawer. “Any questions?”

Hermione's hand was in the air before he had finished speaking. “Yes, professor, I was wondering – you said that your commanding officer practiced flame alchemy, but you didn't mention it at all in your lecture.” The Gryffindor appeared to be extremely concerned by her lack of knowledge.

“Well,” the young professor explained, “flame alchemy is a…special case. In fact, my commanding officer is the only person with the knowledge of that particular alchemy; so I couldn't teach it to you even if I wanted to.”

Hermione's face fell in disappointment. “Is there a reason that flame alchemy is a secret?” She inquired.

Ed paused and leveled a grim stare at his students. “Alchemy itself is dangerous in the wrong hands,” he reminded them. “Flame alchemy is powerful–very powerful. If the wrong people got their hands on it, I can assure you that nothing good would result.”

 Hermione nodded slowly, along with the rest of the class. Gathering their supplies, they exited the classroom.

~o~O~o~

 The quiet murmuring and rustling of pages greeted Ed as he entered the library. He closed his eyes took a deep breath, relaxing as he took in the scent of old books. Libraries had always had a calming effect on him. Opening his eyes, Ed’s gaze fell on the table that Susan had occupied so many times. It was empty now, looking lonely and forsaken without the usual piles of books and papers. Ed’s gut twisted, all traces of calm vanishing. Clenching his jaw, he walked stiffly to the opposite side of the room.

 Sitting at an unoccupied table near the wall, Ed set down an unappealing stack of papers that needed grading. Of all the things he hated about being a teacher, grading homework was near the top of the list. There were so many better things he could be doing with his time instead of marking up students’ incorrect scribblings.

 Unfortunately, increasing the anxiety and self-esteem of his students with a few swipes of his pencil was part of his job. Gritting his teeth, Ed pulled out the first paper and set to work. He hadn’t been working for long when a shadow fell over the table. Looking up in annoyance, he saw the familiar black-haired boy who had made him doubt his entire existence. Lovely.

“We need to talk,” Nico said grimly, eyes darting around the library anxiously.

Edward grimaced, holding back a groan. “About what, exactly?” He asked, leaning his head on his flesh hand.

Nico slipped into the seat next to Ed. “Well…it’s complicated,” he said hesitantly.

“Of course it is,” Ed muttered, letting his hand fall to the table with a sigh. “Just get it over with, the sooner the better I suppose.”

 Nico opened his mouth, then quickly shut it again as two girls walked past their table. When they were out of earshot, Nico spoke.

“You see,” Nico began hurriedly, “there's a prophecy–”

Ed’s head hit the table with a loud _thunk,_ cutting Nico off mid-sentence.

“Of _course_ there is,” Ed groaned, head still on the table. “Of _course_ there’s freakin’ prophecy. Because _why the heck not._ I’m guessing it somehow has something to do with me?”

“Well…yes, actually,” Nico confirmed, throwing an anxious glance back at the library door.

Ed groaned again and lifted his head up. “I guess you had better explain then,” he said in resignation.

 Nico smiled. And even long after the boy had left him alone in the library, Edward found himself wondering once again if he was dreaming.

~o~O~o~

“How were your classes today, Brother?”

 Ed fell back onto his bed as he turned his head to look at Alphonse, attempting to judge his intentions. He could be actually wondering about his class. Or his question could be a cover for probing at how Ed himself was feeling. It was hard to tell with Al.

“It was fine,” he replied evenly, careful not to let too much emotion into his tone.

“Fine?” Al asked skeptically, tilting his armoured head.

Ah. So he _was_ asking about Ed.

“Yeah, fine,” Ed repeated tersely. He didn't need Al worrying about him; it wouldn't accomplish anything, and Ed didn't need sympathy.

 Al was silent, but it was obvious that he was not fooled. That was the problem with being brothers, Ed supposed; no matter how good of a lier he was, Ed couldn't fool his little brother.

“I'm alright Al, really,” Ed insisted, his tone softening.

“If you say so.” Alphonse stood, armour creaking, and made for the door. “It's getting late; I should help guard the entrances.” He stopped with the door open and looked over his shoulder at Ed. “Try to rest, Ed,” he said worriedly. “You haven't been getting enough sleep lately.”

Ed smiled. “Don't worry, I will,” he promised.

 Al made a quiet sighing noise and exited the room. When the door clicked shut firmly behind him, Edward let the fake smile slide off his face. Alphonse, always trying to take care of his older brother–always making sure that Ed slept even when he himself couldn't–Ed couldn't possibly ask for a better brother.

 Ed only wished that Al didn't have to worry about him. He wished that he could be the older brother that Al deserved. He was the older one, he should be the one taking care of and protecting Al–but now his brother was stuck in an unfeeling suit of armour that almost needed no protection at all.

 How was Ed supposed to protect something that was created for the act of protecting? That suit of armour that represented so many things–Ed wanted so badly to be rid of it. The armour was a reminder of all that they had lost, and so much more.

 By trapping his brother in that armour, Ed had made his brother into a protector, when he should still have been the protected. Armour is such a heavy burden to bear. Not only because of its metal composition; but because armour is built to protect. And the task of protection is a heavy weight to carry.

 Because of Edward's mistakes, his younger brother was forced to bear that burden; a burden that should never have come to him. Now Al was the protector, and Ed was the one who needed the protection. And Ed hated it. He hated it so much that it hurt.

 Ed wanted nothing more than to take that burden from Al, to somehow make his brother see that he didn't have to be the protector. But no matter how hard he tried, no matter how often he reassured; kind, patient, Al would continue protecting.

 So Edward swore to do all that he could, everything in his power, whatever he was able, to get his brother's body back. He had to; because he couldn't let Al be the protector forever. The weight of the protector was his burden to bear, and he wouldn't let his brother carry it for any longer then he had to.

_Even though,_ his mind whispered, _he's already carried it for far too long._


	26. You Really Put the 'Con' in 'Confrontation'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which more discoveries are made, and more lies are told

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don’t own the song ‘This is War’ by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

*<*<*>*>* - Begin/end flashback

 

**Percy**

When Percy woke up, he expected another ordinary day. Wake up, eat, suffer through classes, eat more, suffer through some more classes, eat again, flail through headache-inducing homework, go to bed, repeat. Easy (read: torturous). Normal. No room for anything to go wrong. 

Oh how wrong he was.

But of all the things he had thought might go wrong, he hadn’t thought that he would run into trouble before even exiting the Common Room; and he hadn’t at all considered the situation he was in right now.

“Well?” Ron demanded, fixing the three demigods with a steady glare. Beside him, Harry and Hermione wore grim expressions. “Why would you even need to _consider_ killing someone?”

Percy, Nico, and Thalia had been ambushed before they could even make it to the door. It seemed that they had underestimated the investigative skills of their three friends, who had apparently eavesdropped on one of their conversations. And of _course,_ they had heard a conversation that would be very difficult to explain.

To Percy’s right, Thalia took a deep breath. Percy had no idea what she was planning, but he hoped whatever it was would work.

“We…didn’t want to tell you…” Thalia began hesitantly. She stopped, averting her eyes and dropping her head slightly.

“Tell us what?” Harry demanded, frowning as he stepped forward from behind Ron.

Thalia looked back up, a new determination in her eyes. “After what happened,” she began, “with Sirius Black–” Harry’s eyes widened, and Hermione immediately looked worried.

Thalia paused once more before continuing. “We were thinking about going after him,” she said in a rush, lifting her chin.

“You were _what?!”_ Hermione exploded, while Ron and Harry simply looked shocked. “Why on _earth_ would you do something so incredibly _stupid?”_ Hermione raged, throwing her hands in the air. Percy forced himself not to shrink back from the sheer volume of her voice. “Do you have any idea how _dangerous_ that would be?!”

“We have _every_ idea how dangerous it is!” Thalia snapped back, clenching her fists at her sides.

“Then why would you even _consider_ it?!” Hermione asked in frustration. “You could get yourselves killed!”

“Or worse, expelled,” Ron muttered with a snicker. 

Hermione whirled toward him angrily. “This is serious, Ron!” She scolded.

Thalia stepped forward with her hands up in an attempt to placate Hermione. “We know how dangerous it is,” she said. “But our whole _lives_ are full of danger, so we figured that one more murderer wouldn't be too different.”

“But he's a skilled wizard,” Ron pointed out. “And even if you can fight, you’re still only third-years!”

“And what were you planning to do if you _could_ somehow catch him?” Hermione asked, beginning to calm down.

“Well,” Nico said, reminding them all of his presence. “That’s…what we were arguing about.”

Hermione snapped her mouth shut as she realized what Nico was saying. “You mean,” she said in a hushed voice, “that you were actually considering killing Black?” When her question was met with silence, she swallowed hard. “Oh…I see.”

“Don’t do anything crazy,” Harry said after the silence had become awkward. “At least not without telling us first.”

The three demigods nodded and mumbled their agreement to satisfy their young friends, and the group was finally able to leave for the Great Hall. Percy breathed an inward sigh of relief and nodded thankfully at Thalia, who nodded back grimly.

_‘That was almost a disaster,’_ Percy thought as they rushed to breakfast. _‘We need to stop having such close calls, or something is going to go very wrong, and we may not be able to fix it.’_

~o~O~o~

_Murmurs echo throughout the hall, and a young girl anxiously hops from one foot to the other while keeping her place in line. Her light green eyes dart quickly across four large tables, searching for familiar faces. A boy waves his hand vigorously from a table, and the girl’s eyes light up. She waves back eagerly, grinning. Silence soon falls across the hall. The girl stills her movements and nervously bites her lip. Names are called. Houses are shouted. The group thins. Finally, she hears it._

_“Taylor, Elsie.”_

_The name echoes throughout the hall. The girl stumbles forward and hops onto the stool. She sees her brothers grinning at her from their table. Taking a deep breath, she sets the hat on her head. There is silence throughout the hall as the girl listens to a small voice in her head. The brothers exchange anxious looks. The elder taps the table incessantly. Finally, they hear it._

_“Slytherin!”_

_The hat is removed. Elsie Taylor slowly rises to her feet, shocked. Her brothers sit, frozen and staring in disbelief. Clapping and cheers ring out from one table, and one table alone. Not to say that all the other tables were completely silent; the girl is sure that she hears at least three people calling out boos and jeers._

_Elsie forces her legs to move, carrying her to the table, even as the beginnings of tears shine in her eyes. She find her brothers’ faces one more, hoping to find comfort there. Instead she only finds shock and uncertainty. Arriving at an empty seat, the girl is greeted with scowls and angry muttering._

_It takes her several heart-stopping seconds to realize that they aren’t aimed at her; but at the few who were, in fact, jeering at her selection. Smiles are turned toward her, if a bit cold and formal from the older students. An older girl squeezes Elsie’s hand at smiles down at her sympathetically._

_“Don’t worry,” she reassures. “You’ll get used to it eventually.”_

_Despite the intent to comfort, the girl is on the brink of tears once again._

_“But…I don’t…I don’t want to be…I mean…” Elsie ducks her head, and over the cheers of the next sorting, no one hears her desperate whisper. “I’m not…evil…am I?”_

Percy jerked awake, knocking a book and several papers off of the library table. He rubbed his head, trying once again to make sense of his dream. As so often happened, he didn’t remember all of it clearly, and the details were muddled together in his head.

"Are you alright?" Thalia asked from across the table, looking up from her essay.

"Yeah," Percy said, leaning out of his chair to pick up the fallen book and papers. Sitting back up, he spoke again in a lowered voice. _"Just another dream."_

Nico's head came up from his book and Thalia's eyes widened. Setting her quill down, Thalia quickly glanced around to be sure no one was within easy listening distance.

_"About Alex?"_ She asked urgently, leaning across the table so her whisper could be heard. _"Or I guess I should say Elsie…or maybe I should say Alex, in case someone overhears us…"_ Thalia shook her head. _"It doesn't matter. What happened?"_

_"Well…"_ Percy began uncertainly, tapping his fingers on the table. _"I don't remember exactly…it was El–Alex–again, but she looked older. She was being sorted, and she got put in Slytherin, and she was really upset, I think…"_ Percy frowned. _"I don't really remember anything else."_

Thalia groaned. _"Why can't your dreams give you something helpful? How is her backstory going to help us?”_ Percy shrugged.

_"I've been thinking about the prophecy more,"_ Nico cut in. _"I think I may have found a problem."_

_"Great,"_ Thalia grumbled. _"Just what we needed, another problem."_

Nico ignored her and kept talking. _"The line where it says 'a warning to the prophets; the liar, the honest;' we already decided that Luna–Luna was probably the 'honest'. But what about the liar? Who is that?"_

Percy frowned. _"Now that you mention it, I never thought about that."_ He furrowed his brow and stared hard at the table. _"Could it be Trelawney?"_ He suggested after a few seconds.

Thalia shook her head. _"I don't think so…I mean, Trelawney is no Oracle, but she has made a few correct predictions, and don't forget the true prophecy that she's going to give this year."_

Percy turned to Nico. _"What do you think?"_ He asked. _"You said that you've been thinking about it."_

_"I have a few ideas,"_ Nico offered hesitantly. _"Kind of."_

_"Something's better than nothing,"_ Thalia said with a sigh. _"What've you got?"_

_"Nothing solid,"_ Nico admitted. _"But we do know that the Liar is a person who is either pretending to be a prophet and deceiving people, or they truly believe themselves to be a prophet. Either way, they will have an important impact in the war."_

Percy and Thalia nodded in agreement. That much they knew already.

_"So,"_ Nico continued, _"I think that the Liar is misguiding people; either on purpose or by accident; and they're lies are going to have some sort of devastating impact on the coming war."_

_"Where are going with this?"_ Thalia asked slowly, turning her quill between her fingers.

_"I had an idea,"_ Nico began, staring at the book in front of him. _"It's…kind of crazy, but it's an option."_

_"Come_ on _Nico,"_ Percy prodded impatiently. _"What is it?"_

_"We all know that prophecies are confusing,"_ Nico said, looking up to meet their eyes. _"So what if when it says 'prophet' it doesn't mean an actual prophet? What if it's just the name of something? Like maybe a newspaper?"_

Percy's eyes widened. _"The Daily Prophet,"_ he breathed. _"Of course!"_

Thalia's eyes lit up as she grinned. _"That does make sense!"_ She stopped, her smile fading into a frown. _"But the Prophet doesn't really start printing a lot of lies until the fifth year. How would that have an impact on what's happening now? Especially considering what Luna said about the graveyard?"_

_"I don't know,"_ Nico sighed. _"That's what I was unsure about."_

_"Other than that,"_ Percy cut in, _"this is progress."_ He turned to Nico with a grin. _"Glad you were thinking about this a lot."_

Nico gave him an odd sort of smile in return. _"Yeah. Good thing."_

_"Enough of that for now,"_ Thalia said. _"Nico, did you find Alex?"_

Nico sobered immediately. _"I did,"_ he confirmed. _"She hasn't done anything interesting–she's just been a typical Slytherin student."_

_"Has she been to the library yet?"_ Percy asked. If they could find out what sort of things Elsie was studying, they might be able to get a better lead.

Nico shook his head. _"I only just found her yesterday though, so we need to give it time."_

Thalia clenched her fist _"We don't_ have _time!"_ She growled. _"We need to catch her before she can hurt anyone else!"_

_"But we need to be more careful about this,"_ Nico cautioned. _"We were almost caught today. We can't risk that happening again."_

Thalia scowled and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. _"Yeah, I know. We can't let anyone get that close another time. They bought our story for now, but if they catch us again, we're going to have a hard time convincing them to trust us. And we can't let that happen."_

Percy and Nico nodded grimly in agreement.

_"We need to catch her,"_ Percy said seriously. _"And we need to do it soon."_

_“That's right.”_ Thalia gave him a tight smile. _“Dream some more dreams, Percy. You might just find us something worthwhile.”_

~oO~O0O~Oo~

Elsie hurried down the hall towards the library, a slip of paper clutched tightly in her hand. As she sped past a group of older students, she heard a voice call her name. She easily recognized the boy who called her, but she had no intentions of stopping.

“Elsie!” He called out again, and she heard the pounding of footsteps behind her as he ran to catch up.

Frowning in annoyance, she quickened her gait, but his legs were longer and he easily overtook her.

“Elsie, stop!” A hand reached out and grabbed her arm, forcing her to a halt.

“What is it?” She snapped impatiently, turning to her brother in annoyance. He hurriedly released her arm, raising his hands in defense.

“Elsie, I just wanted to see how you’re doing!” He protested, slowing lowering his arms. “You’ve been so reclusive lately…you haven’t spoken to me or Mathew in a long time; are sure you’re alright?”

“I’m fine,” Elsie insisted, scowling in annoyance as she turned to leave. “Now if you will excuse me, I have somewhere to go."

Peter reached out and grabbed her arm again, this time the one that secured her precious slip of paper. Seeing it, her brother’s face tightened.

“The restricted section again, Elsie?” He asked, worry obvious in his tone. “What are you doing in there?”

“That’s none of your business.” Elsie whipped her head around to glare at her brother, pulling her arm in an attempt to break free. “Now let go of me!”

Peter tightened his firm grip on his sister’s arm. “Elsie…” he began cautiously. “You…you’re changing, Elsie. I don’t like it…and I’m worried about you.”

“Maybe you should have worried sooner,” Elsie hissed, narrowing her green eyes threateningly and yanking on her arm again.

Her brother stepped back in shock, allowing her to pull her arm free and turn to leave. She was halfway down the hall by the time Peter snapped himself out of his surprise and called after her. But by that time she was far enough away that she didn’t have to worry. She eagerly looked down at her valuable slip of paper.

_‘Now it’s time to see if this book has what I’m looking for.’_


	27. You Really Put the 'Rat' in 'Narrative'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which all is revealed (kind of)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are a few sections in here that are copy-and-pasted from PoA with a few edits, and I really hate doing that, but it wouldn’t work any other way. There is also a section that is in PoA that didn’t need any changes, so I left it out. You all know what happened anyway. Enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don’t own the song ‘This is War’ by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

*<*<*>*>* - Begin/end flashback

 

**Harry**

To say that the months leading up to final exams passed quickly would be a complete lie. Nothing particularly interesting seemed to happen; the Fat Lady returned to her post, Ron had his 14th birthday, and the twins turned 16. The winning of the Quidditch Cup was, of course, a cause for happiness, but like many other events, the celebration was somewhat dimmed. The most important thing of note was Buckbeak being sentenced to execution, which had happened only minutes earlier.

“We have to go down,” Hermione insisted. “We can’t leave Hagrid by himself!”

“But it’s almost sunset,” Ron protested. “We aren’t allowed out of the castle, and we won’t all fit under the invisibility cloak!”

“You four go then,” Nico suggested. “Percy and I will wait up here.”

“But–” Hermione began, but Percy cut her off.

“Like you said, we can’t leave Hagrid alone. You guys go, we’ll wait up here for you to get back.”

“C’mon then,” Harry said, spreading the cloak. “Let’s go!”

The four of them quietly exited the castle and made their way down to Hagrid’s hut. Their progress was slow; it was hard to move with four people underneath the cloak. They reached Hagrid’s door and knocked.

“It’s us,” Harry hissed as Hagrid opened the door. “We’re wearing the Invisibility Cloak. Let us in and we can take it off.”

“Yeh shouldn’ve come!” Hagrid whispered, but he stood back, allowing them to step inside. Hagrid shut the door quickly and Harry pulled off the Cloak.

“Wan’ some tea?” Hagrid asked shakily. His great hands were shaking as he reached for the kettle.

“Where’s Buckbeak, Hagrid?” said Hermione hesitantly.

“I–I took him outside,” said Hagrid, spilling milk all over the table as he filled up the jug. “He’s tethered in me pumpkin patch. Thought he oughta see the trees an’–an’ smell fresh air–before–”

Hagrid’s hand trembled so violently that the milk jug slipped from his grasp, shattering all over the floor.

“I’ll clean it up, Hagrid,” said Thalia said quickly, hurrying over before Hagrid could do anything.

“There’s another one in the cupboard,” Hagrid said, sitting down and wiping his forehead on his sleeve. Harry glanced at Ron, who looked back hopelessly.

“Isn’t there anything anyone can do, Hagrid?” Harry asked fiercely, sitting down next to him. “Dumbledore–”

“He’s tried,” said Hagrid. “He’s got no power ter overrule the Committee. He told ’em Buckbeak’s all right, but they’re scared…Yeh know what Lucius Malfoy’s like…threatened ’em, I expect…an’ the executioner, Macnair, he’s an old pal o’ Malfoy’s…but it’ll be quick an’ clean…an’ I’ll be beside him…”

Hagrid swallowed. His eyes were darting all over the cabin as though looking for some shred of hope or comfort.

“Dumbledore’s gonna come down while it — while it happens. Wrote me this mornin’. Said he wants ter — ter be with me. Great man, Dumbledore. . . .”

Hermione, who had been rummaging in Hagrid’s cupboard for another milk jug, let out a small, quickly stifled sob. She straightened up with the new jug in her hands, fighting back tears.

“We’ll stay with you too, Hagrid,” she began, but Hagrid shook his shaggy head.

“Yeh’re ter go back up ter the castle. I told yeh, I don’ wan’ yeh watchin’. An’ yeh shouldn’ be down here anyway. . . . If Fudge an’ Dumbledore catch yeh out without permission, Harry, yeh’ll be in big trouble.”

Hermione’s eyes were brimming with tears, and she was obviously fighting hard to conceal them. She poured milk from the bottle into the new jug that she had retrieved from the cabinet and set it on the table. Before she could do anything else, Hagrid stood up and looked out the window.

“They’re comin’…” he whispered, his face going pale. “Yeh gotta go,” Hagrid insisted, turning back to face them. “The mustn’ find yeh here…go now…”

Harry grabbed the invisibility cloak and threw it over himself and the other three. Together they crept out the door and into the evening shadows.

“Let’s hurry,” Hermione said mournfully. “I can’t bear to listen…”

The four of them did hurry, as much as was possible being crowded under the cloak as they were, but even so, the resounding _thud_ of an ax hitting wood easily reached their ears. All progress stopped. Thalia looked grim, Ron’s face had gone white, and Hermione was choking back sobs. Harry didn’t know how long they would have stood there, but suddenly Thalia straightened up, disrupting the cloak as she did so.

“Thalia!” Ron said in alarm, scrambling to pull the cloak back over them. “What are you doing?!”

“I see something,” she hissed. “It looks like…a dog?”

“What?” Harry asked in alarm, thinking of the large black dog he had seen twice before. His head shot up and he frantically scanned the shadowed grounds in search of the beast. “Where?”

“Over–” Thalia began, but she never finished.

A huge black dog leaped from the shadows, and before Harry could comprehend what was happening it had seized hold of Ron’s arm in its enormous mouth and was speeding away, pulling Ron along with him. Ron yelled in shock as he was forcefully dragged away; Harry, Hermione, and Thalia lunged forward, grabbing at the dog, but their hands closed on empty air.

Without even stopping to speak, they raced after the dog, which was getting further and further away by the second. Ron was yelling plenty, so it wasn’t any trouble to follow them, despite the darkness. Even so, they didn’t seem to be gaining any ground against the huge beast.

Just when Harry thought that they would never catch up, he the dog stopped at what seemed to be a large tree. He had just gotten close enough to make out the form of the dog pulling Ron’s struggling form into a hollow at the base when something struck him so hard across the face that he fell backward with spots in his vision, barely registering Hermione’s scream.

Hearing a whispered _‘lumos!’_ Behind him, Harry saw by the light of Thalia’s wand that Hermione had suffered a similar fate and was laying on the ground near him. She seemed to be uninjured for the most part, and Harry frantically turned his attention back to the tree, where Ron was slipping away–

“Ron!” He shouted, making to run forward, but a large branch swung towards him and Thalia pulled him away just in time.

“Watch out!” She warned. “You won’t be any help if you get knocked unconscious!”

Harry turned back to the tree in helplessness; when suddenly a sharp _crack_ met their ears, the horrible sound of a bone being broken. There was a pained cry from Ron, then he fully disappeared from sight.

“We–we have to go for help,” Hermione stuttered, tightly gripping her wand with a shaking hand.

“We don’t have time!” Harry shouted fiercely. “We have to go after him ourselves!”

“We can’t do that, idiot!” Thalia shouted back. “We’ll be–”

Suddenly, all of the tree’s movement stopped. Shocked, the three wizards turned to the base of the tree, where Crookshanks was sitting proudly, one paw resting on a knot on the trunk.

“Crookshanks?” Hermione asked in confusion. “How did he…”

“What the _hell_ are you _doing?!_ ” A voice behind them exclaimed.

The three students whirled around in shock to see a very irate Edward Elric standing behind them, hands up.

“Professor–Edward!” Hermione said with relief. “Please–a huge dog grabbed Ron and dragged him into the tree, and–”

A loud hiss interrupted Hermione, and they turned to see that Crookshanks was standing with his back arched, obviously wanting them to hurry it up.

Edward narrowed his eyes at them. “I’ll ask for explanations later,” he said and marched towards the tree.

“Why were you even out here?” Harry asked.

“Doesn’t matter!” Thalia interrupted, grabbing his and Hermione’s arms and dragging them forward. “Let’s go!”

Harry and Hermione hurried after her and Edward, and together they followed Crookshanks as he slipped into an opening at the base of the tree. They ran along the narrow tunnel, bent over so as to avoid hitting their heads on the low roof.

“W-where do you think this tunnel comes out?” Hermione gasped, running behind Harry.

“I saw it on the map,” Harry answered. “It went off the edge–it looked like it maybe ended up in Hogsmeade.”

The tunnel began to ascend, then twisted and opened up into a dusty and disorganized room. All the windows were boarded up, and every piece of furniture was smashed. Harry looked around the room as Edward, Hermione, and Thalia pulled themselves out of the hole.

“I think…” Hermione whispered, “I think we’re in the shrieking shack…”

“It doesn’t matter where we are,” Edward said, glaring around the room. “We need to find that dog.”

A creaking sound above their heads caused them all to look up at the ceiling. The group carefully moved out into the hall and towards the decaying staircase. Upon reaching the landing, Thalia and Hermione quietly extinguished the lights on their wands. Outside the door, they looked to each other for confirmation, then Harry kicked the door open and they jumped inside, wands ready; or, in Edward’s case, hands prepared to clap.

Ron sat against an old bed, his leg sticking out at an unnatural angle. Behind him, Crookshanks lay purring on the dusty covers. Harry and Hermione rushed over to him, wands forgotten, with Thalia close behind.

“Ron!” Hermione exclaimed. “Are you alright?”

“Where’s the dog?” Edward asked suspiciously, standing a few feet back from them.

“Not–a dog–” Ron forced out through clenched teeth. “It’s–trap–” Ron lifted a shaky finger to point to the corner behind them. “He’s–Animagus–”

The four rescuers whirled to face where Ron was pointing, but before they could even register the sight of the man in the shadows, a hoarse voice had called out: _‘expelliarmus!’_ And their wands were ripped from their hands. A ringing clap filled the air as Edward brought his hands together.

Black turned his wand on Edward. _“Immobulus!”_

Ed dove to the right to avoid the spell, nearly hitting the wall in the process. Hermione screamed. Harry thought desperately of anything he could do to help, but he was wandless which made him essentially useless.

Before Ed had time to get back on his feet, Black had yelled; _‘Incarcerous!’_ And Edward was left tied up on the floor.

“Untie me you bastard!” Ed growled from the floor, but Black ignored him.

“I thought you would come to help your friend,” Black croaked. His voice was unbearably hoarse, as if he hadn’t spoken in a very long time. “Your father would have done the same for me.” He took a step closer. “Brave of you not to run for a teacher. I’m grateful…it will make everything much easier…”

“Like _hell_ it will!” Edward yelled, still struggling against the ropes that pinned his arms to his sides.

Black’s gaze shifted to Edward’s form on the floor. “Don’t worry, this shouldn’t take long…”

“Oh my _gods_ will you just get to the point already!” Thalia interrupted angrily, startling them all. She glared fiercely at Black, who stared back in shock. “Just say what you want to say, and stop stalling!”

Harry gaped at his friend, who didn’t look afraid in the slightest. Hermione let out a strangled sort of sound, and Ron’s eyes were popping out of his head. Even Edward looked slightly surprised.

“A-alright then…” Black said, sounding very surprised and not at all like the ominous killer he had been only seconds ago.

“Hey, what makes you think we’re just going to sit here and let you kill us!” Harry shouted.

“Harry, calm down and let him talk!” Thalia yelled back, turning to glare at him instead. “Just hear what he has to say, and then if he tries to kill us, you can go all berserk on him.”

_“Hear what he has to say?!”_ Ed cried in disbelief.

“What?!” Hermione shrieked at the same time. “Thalia he killed _two people!”_

“And my mum and dad!” Harry yelled furiously.

“No!” Black said hoarsely. “I didn’t kill those two children!”

“You’re going to deny it?!” Ed shouted, twisting his head around to glare at Black.

“People _saw_ you,” Ron added angrily. “Everyone knows it was you!”

The sound of footsteps on the stair interrupted their yelling before the door burst open and Professor Lupin dashed into the room, wand out and face pale. He surveyed the situation; Sirius Black holding their wands, Ron on the ground with Harry and Hermione in front of him, Thalia still glaring at everyone, and Edward tied up on the floor.

“Where is he?” Lupin whispered, facing Black.

Black stared for a few seconds, then opened his mouth to speak. “I don’t know exactly,” he managed. “But the boy had him last.” Here he pointed at Ron.

“But then…why hasn’t he shown himself?” Lupin muttered, staring hard at Black. Suddenly his eyes widened. “Unless–unless _he_ was the one…and you switched…without telling anyone?”

Black nodded slowly, his eyes never breaking Lupin’s gaze.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Ed demanded.

“Professor!” Harry interrupted loudly, “what’s going on…?”

The words were barely out of his mouth before Lupin had strode across the room and embraced Black like a brother. Harry blinked in shock, feeling as if he had been hit in the stomach.

“I DON’T BELIEVE IT!” Hermione screamed.

Lupin turned toward her, not looking the least bit troubled as she pointed at him accusingly.

“You–you–”

“Hermione–”

“You and him!”

“Hermione, please–”

“I covered for you! I didn’t tell anyone!” Hermione shrieked.

“Hermione, listen to me!” Lupin shouted. “I can explain!”

“Explain what, that you’ve been helping a _murderer_?” Edward snarled, struggling all the more violently against his bonds.

“I trusted you!” Harry shouted, shaking with the anger of betrayal. “And all this time, you’ve–”

“Please!” Lupin said. “Let me explain–”

“NO!” Hermione shouted. “He’s been helping Black this whole time, and he wants you dead too–he’s a _werewolf!”_

The silence that followed was deafening as everyone stared at Lupin. He was paler than usual but didn’t look overly alarmed.

“Only one out of three Hermione,” he said at last in a strained voice. “Not up to your usual standard…How long have you known?”

Hermione swallowed nervously. “Ages,” she whispered. “Ever since I did Professor Snape’s essay…”

“He’ll be delighted,” said Lupin coolly. “He assigned that essay hoping someone would realize what my symptoms meant…Did you check the lunar chart and realize that I was always ill at the full moon? Or did you realize that the boggart changed into the moon when it saw me?”

“Both,” Hermione said quietly.

Lupin forced a laugh. “You’re the cleverest witch of your age I’ve ever met, Hermione.”

“I’m not,” Hermione whispered. “If I’d been a bit cleverer, I’d have told everyone what you are!”

“But they already know,” said Lupin. “At least, the staff do.”

Thalia, who had been silent for some time, finally spoke. “Will you two _please_ just say what you’re going to say before Harry explodes? But you might want to untie Edward first.”

Lupin’s eyes widened, and he turned to Edward. “Right,” he said, raising his wand. “Now, Ed…you’ll have to promise not to attack anyone–”

“Why would I _ever_ promise something like _that_?” Ed demanded furiously.

“I promise we can explain everything,” Lupin said calmly. “But not if you attack us before we get the chance.”

“…Fine,” Edward snapped, eyeing both Black and Lupin suspiciously. “Just hurry up and let me go so you can start explaining.”

Lupin quickly obliged, and Ed jumped to his feet immediately, still glaring at Black.

“Yes, well,” Lupin began, taking a deep breath. “It’s a long story, but it starts with Ron’s rat–”

_“What?!”_ Ron interrupted. “What does Scabbers have to do with this?”

“Well,” Lupin said, “for one thing…his name isn’t Scabbers. He isn’t even a rat. He’s an Animagus wizard by the name of Peter Pettigrew.”

There was a shocked silence for several seconds before Edward spoke.

“He’s a what now?” The professor asked, puzzled.

“An Animagus,” Hermione answered, bewilderment evident in her tone as well. “A wizard who can turn into an animal…but that’s ridiculous!”

“Pettigrew is _dead_!” Harry said angrily. He pointed at Black. “ _He_ killed him twelve years ago! There were witnesses, a whole street full of them!”

“They didn’t see what they thought they saw,” Black growled angrily.

Lupin placed a placating hand on Black’s shoulder before speaking. “Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter,” he agreed. “Even me. But then I saw the map tonight, and the map doesn’t lie. Peter’s alive.”

“Wait,” Thalia said, frowning in confusion. “How did you see him? Ron hasn’t even seen Scabbers–Peter–in months, and he definitely isn’t holding him now…”

“That’s another thing,” Lupin said. “I saw Peter on the map by the Whomping Willow, and then he disappeared into the tunnel…I thought for sure he would be with you.”

“We can find him later,” Edward said impatiently. “Just get on with it.”

Suddenly the door creaked open, and everyone turned in alarm to face the source of the noise. They stood in silence, but there were no other sounds.

“This place is haunted,” Ron said at last, attempting to distance himself from the door, wincing as he did so.

“It’s not haunted,” Lupin said with a frown. “It never was. The villagers were hearing _me_.” He paused. “In fact, that’s where all of this starts–with my becoming a werewolf…”

~o~O~o~

“So that’s why Snape doesn’t like you,” said Harry slowly, “because he thought you were in on the joke?”

“That’s right,” sneered a cold voice from the wall behind Lupin. Severus Snape was pulling off the Invisibility Cloak, his wand pointing directly at Lupin.

Hermione screamed. Harry jumped as though he’d received a huge electric shock. Edward whirled around with his hands up, ready to clap.

“I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow,” said Snape, throwing the Cloak aside, careful to keep his wand pointing directly at Lupin’s chest. “Very useful, Potter, I thank you…”

Snape was slightly breathless, but his face was full of suppressed triumph. “You’re wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here?” he said, his eyes glittering. “I’ve just been to your office, Lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I took a gobletful along. And very lucky I did…lucky for me, I mean. Lying on your desk was a certain map. One glance at it told me all I needed to know. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight.”

“Severus–” Lupin began, but Snape interrupted him before he could continue.

“I’ve told the headmaster again and again that you’re helping your old friend Black into the castle, Lupin, and here’s the proof,” Snape said triumphantly. “Not even _I_ dreamed you would have the nerve to use this old place as your hideout–”

“Severus, you’re making a mistake,” said Lupin urgently. “You haven’t heard everything–I can explain–Sirius is not here to kill Harry–”

“Two more for Azkaban tonight,” said Snape, his eyes now gleaming fanatically. “I shall be interested to see how Dumbledore takes this…He was quite convinced you were harmless, you know, Lupin…a  _tame_  werewolf–”

“You fool,” said Lupin softly. “Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back inside Azkaban?”

BANG! Thin, snakelike cords burst from the end of Snape’s wand and twisted themselves around Lupin’s mouth, wrists, and ankles; he overbalanced and fell to the floor, unable to move. With a roar of rage, Black started toward Snape, but Snape pointed his wand straight between Black’s eyes.

“Give me a reason,” he whispered. “Give me a reason to do it, and I swear I will.”

Black stopped dead. It would have been impossible to say which face showed more hatred.

Harry stood there, paralyzed, not knowing what to do or whom to believe. He glanced around at Ron and Hermione. Ron looked just as confused as he did. Hermione, however, took an uncertain step toward Snape and said, in a very breathless voice, “Professor Snape–it–it wouldn’t hurt to hear what they’ve got to say, w-would it?”

“Miss Granger, you are already facing suspension from this school,” Snape spat. “You, Potter, and Weasley are out-of-bounds, in the company of a convicted murderer and a werewolf. For once in your life,  _hold your tongue._ ”

“But if-if there was a mistake–”

“KEEP QUIET, YOU STUPID GIRL!” Snape shouted, looking suddenly quite deranged. “DON’T TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!” A few sparks shot out of the end of his wand, which was still pointed at Black’s face. Hermione fell silent.

“Vengeance is very sweet,” Snape breathed at Black. “How I hoped I would be the one to catch you…”

“HEY!” Edward yelled, stepping forward for the first time. “You can’t just throw a person in prison if there’s a chance that they’re not–”

“QUIET!” Snape yelled, turning his wand on Edward, who continued to glare at him. “This has nothing to do with you either, so shut up unless you want to end up like the werewolf!”

“Well aren’t you a pathetic excuse for a teacher!” Ed shouted back. “This is ridiculous! You’re letting a stupid _grudge_ get in the way of something actually import–”

The rest of his speech was silenced as Snape fired the same spell that he had used on Lupin, rendering Edward incapable of speech.

Hermione had her hands over her mouth, and Thalia was standing with her hands clenched into fists but had made no move to go forward. In fact, it looked almost as if she were trying to sink into the background and disappear.

“Now,” Snape said, eyes darting back and forth at a crazed speed. “All I have to do is call the dementors once we get outside the Willow. They’ll be very pleased to see you, Black…pleased enough to give you a little Kiss, I daresay…”

What little color there was in Black’s face left it.

“You–you’ve got to hear me out,” he croaked. “The rat–if we could just find–”

But there was a mad glint in Snape’s eyes that Harry had never seen before. He seemed beyond reason.

“Come on, all of you,” he said. He clicked his fingers, and the ends of the cords that bound Lupin flew to his hands. “Perhaps I can untie Elric if he promises to behave…but I’ll drag the werewolf. Perhaps the dementors will have a Kiss for him too–”

Before he knew what he was doing, Harry had crossed the room in three strides and blocked the door.

“Get out of the way, Potter, you’re in enough trouble already,” snarled Snape. “If I hadn’t been here to save your skin–”

“Professor Lupin could have killed me about a hundred times this year,” Harry said. “I’ve been alone with him loads of times, having defense lessons against the dementors. If he was helping Black, why didn’t he just finish me off then?”

“Don’t ask me to fathom the way a werewolf’s mind works,” hissed Snape. “Get out of the way, Potter.”

“YOU’RE PATHETIC!” Harry yelled. “JUST BECAUSE THEY MADE A FOOL OF YOU AT SCHOOL YOU WON’T EVEN LISTEN–”

“SILENCE! I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT!” Snape shrieked, looking madder than ever. “Like father, like son, Potter! I have just saved your neck; you should be thanking me on bended knee! You would have been well served if he’d killed you! You’d have died like your father, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in Black–now get out of the way, or I will  _make you._ GET OUT OF THE WAY, POTTER!”

Harry made up his mind in a split second. Before Snape could take even one step toward him, he had raised his wand.

_“Expelliarmus!”_ he yelled–except that his wasn’t the only voice that shouted. There was a blast that made the door rattle on its hinges; Snape was lifted off his feet and slammed into the wall, then slid down it to the floor, a trickle of blood oozing from under his hair. He had been knocked out.

Harry looked around. Both Ron and Hermione had tried to Disarm Snape at exactly the same moment. Snape’s wand soared in a high arc and landed on the bed next to Crookshanks.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” said Black, looking at Harry. “You should have left him to me…”

Harry avoided Black’s eyes. He wasn’t sure, even now, that he’d done the right thing.

“We attacked a teacher…We attacked a teacher…,” Hermione whimpered, staring at the lifeless Snape with frightened eyes. “Oh, we’re going to be in so much trouble–”

Lupin and Edward were struggling against their bonds. Black bent down quickly and untied Lupin, while Hermione rushed to help Edward. Lupin straightened up, rubbing his arms where the ropes had cut into them.

“Thank you, Harry,” he said.

“I’m still not saying I believe you,” Harry reminded him.

Edward sat up and angrily growled something in Amestrian. From his tone, Harry decided it was a good thing he couldn’t understand him.

“I wish I could give you proof,” Black whispered despairingly. “If we could only find Peter…”

“How do you even know that _Scabbers_ is Peter?” Ron asked angrily. “He could be any rat!”

“That is a fair question,” Lupin said, turning to Black. “How _did_ you know it was him?”

Black reached a pale hand into his ragged robes and pulled out a wrinkled and worn piece of paper, which he showed to the others; revealing it to be the photograph of the Weasley family in the Daily Prophet from that summer. And there, sitting on Ron’s shoulder, was Scabbers.

“How did you get this?” Lupin asked Black, thunderstruck.

“Fudge,” said Black. “When he came to inspect Azkaban last year, he gave me his paper. And there was Peter, on the front page…on this boy’s shoulder…I knew him at once…how many times had I seen him transform? And the caption said the boy would be going back to Hogwarts…to where Harry was…”

“My God,” said Lupin softly, staring at the Scabbers in the picture. “His front paw…”

“What about it?” said Ron defiantly.

“He’s got a toe missing,” said Black.

“Of course,” Lupin breathed. “So simple…so  _brilliant_ …he cut it off himself?”

“Just before he transformed,” said Black. “When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I’d betrayed Lily and James. Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself–and sped down into the sewer with the other rats…”

“Didn’t you ever hear, Ron?” said Lupin. “The biggest bit of Peter they found was his finger.”

“Look, Scabbers probably had a fight with another rat or something! He’s been in my family for ages, right–”

“Twelve years, in fact,” said Lupin. “Didn’t you ever wonder why he was living so long?”

“We–we’ve been taking good care of him!” said Ron.

“But Peter got wind of what was going on and ran for it…” croaked Black, ignoring Ron. “Probably decided that faking his own death had worked once, so why not do it again…”

These words jolted Harry to his senses. “And why did he fake his death?” he said furiously. “Because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed my parents!”

“No,” said Lupin, “Harry–”

“And now you’ve come to finish him off!”

“Yes, I have,” said Black, crumpling the paper in his hands angrily.“Then I should’ve let Snape take you!” Harry shouted.

“Harry,” said Lupin hurriedly, “don’t you see? All this time we’ve thought Sirius betrayed your parents, and Peter tracked him down–but it was the other way around, don’t you see?  _Peter_  betrayed your mother and father–Sirius tracked  _Peter_  down–”

“THAT’S NOT TRUE!” Harry yelled. “HE WAS THEIR SECRET-KEEPER! HE KILLED THEM!”

He was pointing at Black, who shook his head slowly; the sunken eyes were suddenly over-bright.

“Harry…I as good as killed them,” he croaked. “I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret-Keeper instead of me…I’m to blame, I know it…The night they died, I’d arranged to check on Peter, make sure he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he’d gone. Yet there was no sign of a struggle. It didn’t feel right. I was scared. I set out for your parents’ house straightaway. And when I saw their house, destroyed, and their bodies…I realized what Peter must’ve done…what I’d done…” His voice broke and he turned away.

“If we could only find him then we could prove it to you,” Lupin said tensely.

“I believe you,” Thalia said, stepping forward.

Harry turned to her in shock. “Why do you believe them?!” He yelled.

Thalia turned to Harry in exasperation. “Weren’t you listening at all, Harry?” She asked. “What he said makes sense! And besides…” She turned back to Lupin and Black. “I know when someone is lying. They aren’t.”

“What about Susan?” Edward interjected, his eyes dark with anger. “And Luna? If you didn’t kill them, then who did?”

“It wasn’t him!”

Everyone turned in shock at Thalia’s outburst. She froze, staring back at them, a desperate look in her eyes. What she did next Harry would never understand…mostly because he would never remember it. But even if he did remember Thalia’s strange actions that followed, he would not have been able to comprehend them.

**Thalia**

Thalia had known that the moment would come when she would be forced to use the mist to cover a mistake, and she had prepared. She had spent the long months practicing with the mist, going over everything she had learned from Chiron’s lessons and her few conversations with Hazel. Her capabilities had grown significantly in the past few months. But she hadn’t expected the moment to be so…spontaneous.

Closing her eyes, Thalia took a deep breath. “Hecate,” she muttered, “You probably aren’t listening, but…I could use some help…if you could spare a moment for preventing what could possibly be the end of the world.”

Opening her eyes again, she saw everyone staring at her with a mixture of confusion and wariness on their faces. Mentally preparing herself, Thalia began to speak.

“The deaths of Susan and Luna were an accident,” She said confidently, focusing intently. “You weren’t told the specifics. It doesn’t concern you.” Thalia paused, swallowing hard as she gathered her mental strength. “Before we arrived at the Shrieking Shack, we found Scabbers. Lupin and Black transformed him into Peter Pettigrew, proving their story to be true. Before we were able to restrain him, he transformed back into a rat and ran outside.”

Thalia could feel her grip on the mist weakening. _‘I’m not going to be able to do this,’_ she thought, beginning to panic. _‘I won’t be able to make them believe it…I’m going to fail…’_

But just as she began to despair, she heard…a voice.

_“Interesting strategy.”_ The Greek words rang through the air, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. _“Hmmmm…this benefits me as well, I suppose. So, young demigod, just this once, I will help you. Just this once.”_

Immediately Thalia felt as if a wind were rushing through the room, relieving any pressure she felt, and it left her gasping. She wasn’t left any time to ponder what had just happened, because the other occupants of the room snapped out of their dazes and turned to the door in shock.

“He’s getting away!” Lupin cried.

“Go after him!” Thalia forced herself to say. “I’ll help Ron, just go!”

Just like that, They were dashing out the door. As Thalia fixed a splint upon Ron’s leg, she couldn’t forget the voice that had echoed through the room…eery, mystical, cold…and unrecognizable.


	28. You Really Put the 'Firm' in 'Confirmation'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there are headaches and conflicts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don’t own the song ‘This is War’ by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

*<*<*>*>* - Begin/end flashback

 

**Edward**

Yes, he _knew_ it was possible because he had read about it but _seeing_ it even with that knowledge still unsettled him in ways he couldn’t even begin to describe – seeing a _dog_ where there should have been a _human_ still screamed wrong, _wrong,_ ** _wrong, WRONG!_** And no matter how he tried to rationalize it he still found himself staring in numb shock, trying desperately to shake the memories, the guilt, the–

_“Edward!”_

A frantic scream pierced through Edward’s mind and he was jerked back to the present, barely in time to raise his right arm and stop incredibly _sharp and deadly TEETH_ from ripping apart his face.Someone screamed, but Ed’s only concern was getting away from the vicious teeth and claws that were currently attempting to rip him apart. Somehow he managed to bring up his left foot and kick the wolf (he was a wolf…right?) away, and then the dog – man – dog – was there again, pouncing on the wolf (the wolf that had been Remus Lupin…right?), driving him away towards the trees.

Ed was left gasping, trying to clear his head and remember exactly what had happened to place him in this situation…except that his memories were so oddly fuzzy and for Truth’s sake _why couldn’t he remember what had happened?_ It was as if two different memories were battling for dominance in his mind, two different memories arguing over which one was correct–

_‘There was a rat,’_ whispered one side of his mind.

_‘No, there wasn’t!’_ Screamed the other side.

_‘Trust Sirius Black, he’s innocent,’_ one side murmured.

_‘NO!’_ The other side shouted. _‘He killed two people! He killed Susan and Luna!’_

_‘Shhh, no he didn’t…’_ The other side soothed. _‘It was an accident, remember…an accident…’_

_‘No, no, NO!’_ The other side raged. _‘Remember your promise? Remember getting there too late?_ ** _Remember how it’s your fault?!_** _’_

“Edward, _snap out of it!_ ”

Someone was shaking him, and it felt as if knives were being stabbed into his brain with every jolt. Ed blinked several times, forcing himself to ignore the pounding indecisiveness in his head and focus on the black-haired girl in front of him.

“Wh-what–” Ed stammered, desperately trying to organize his thoughts as Thalia released his shoulders.

_‘Focus,’_ he told himself, though the sharp pain in his head made that very difficult. _‘We’re outside – by the Whomping Willow – we just came from the Shrieking Shack because – because –’_

_‘Because Pettigrew ran off, remember? See, easy…that’s what happened…’_

_‘NO! That’s NOT what happened! Stop being an idiot! Pettigrew was never there!’_

“Edward, a-are you alright?!” Hermione was by his side, hands over her mouth as she stared at him in horror. “Y-your arm…”

“I-I’m fine–” Edward forced out, though his splitting headache begged to differ.

“His arm is metal, remember?” Thalia said to Hermione. Thalia’s face was pale and she looked very shaken; not that Ed could blame her, given the past sequence of events…

which he still couldn’t remember clearly.

A sudden barking made them all jump and turn towards the sound. It sounded like a dog in pain…but the only dog was –

“Sirius!” Harry shouted. He turned to face them in panic. “We have to go help him!”

“I don’t think I can go anywhere right now Harry,” Ron hissed through clenched teeth. It seemed that Thalia had fashioned a splint for his leg, but he was obviously still in severe pain.

“I’ll stay with Ron,” Thalia said. “You go help Sirius.”

Harry and Hermione barely hesitated before dashing off towards the sound of barking. Ed once again forced himself to ignore the war raging inside his skull, along with the growing pain from his headache, so that he could run after the two students. But try as he might, it was impossible to completely tune out his conflicting memories.

_‘Innocent…he’s innocent…that’s why you’re going to help him, right?’_

_‘Guilty! He’s guilty! You just want to make sure Harry and Hermione don’t get hurt!’_

_‘He didn’t do anything wrong, he’s never hurt anyone…’_

_‘He killed them! He’s a murderer!’_

_‘Innocent…’_

_‘Murderer!’_

_‘Accident…’_

_‘Your fault!’_

Distracted by the voices in his head, Edward didn’t notice the growing cold and sense of dread until it was too late. He stumbled to halt with a gasp, feeling as if all the life and happiness had been sucked out of him. His vision was tinted with black, and he could just make out the form of Hermione on the ground, and Harry standing right next to her, growing weaker by the second. Edward vaguely noted that he was not standing anymore, but his sense of perception was growing ever weaker as he gradually succumbed to the nightmares inside his head.

~o~O~o~

“…What is at stake… _You must not be seen.”_

_‘What…’_ Edward was slowly brought back to consciousness, the sound of someone speaking carrying over the buzzing in his ears.

“I’m going to lock you in. It is…five minutes to midnight. Miss Granger, three turns should it. Good luck.”

_‘What’s going on?’_ If Ed’s thoughts had been muddled before, they were even more so now. He could barely think straight, let alone assess his current situation.

“Good luck?” Another voice questioned. “Three turns? What’s he talking about? What are we supposed to do?”

_‘I’m in a bed…I think…wait…is this the hospital wing? Why am I–’_ Ed forced his eyes opened with a gasp, shoving himself upright in the bed as his memories flooded back. _‘Right…dementors.’_

Edward grasped the sides of his bed as a wave of dizziness overcame him as a result of his abrupt transition. Finally able to see, Ed saw Hermione, Harry, and Thalia standing in the middle of the room. Ron was in the bed next to him. There was no one else in the room.

“Oh, Edward!” Hermione exclaimed. “You’re awake!”

“What’s going on?” Ed asked, surprising himself with how hoarse his voice was.

“We’ll explain in a minute,” Hermione said, pulling at a chain around her neck.

“Explain what?” Harry demanded. “I still don’t know what–”

“Come here Harry, quickly!” Hermione said urgently, gesturing for Harry to come closer. Throwing the chain around Harry’s neck, she glanced hesitantly at Thalia.

“You can’t take both of us,” Thalia said impatiently. “Just go!”

Hermione nodded and turned back to her necklace.

“Take both you _where?”_ Edward asked, utterly lost.

Instead of answering, Hermione and Harry vanished into thin air.

Wait.

“H-how did that happen?” Ed stammered, even more confused than before.

“Time-Turner,” Thalia replied easily, turning to face him.

“A _what?”_ Ed asked, not any less confused.

Suddenly the door opened and Hermione and Harry entered, breathless and looking as if they had run a mile. Edward stared as they rushed back to their beds and climbed in as if they had never left.

“A Time-Turner is a device that allows you to go back in time a few hours,” Thalia explained quickly. She turned to Hermione and Harry. “Did it work?” She asked anxiously.

Hermione nodded. “Barely,” she whispered. “But Sirius and Buckbeak are both safe now.”

“That’s not possible!” Edward protested. “There’s no way that even _magic_ could make _time-travel_ possible!”

“Shh!” Thalia hissed as the door to Madame Pomfrey’s office swung open.

“Did I hear the headmaster leaving?” She asked in annoyance. “Am I allowed to look after my patients now?” Spotting Edward sitting up, her anger nearly doubled. “You don’t even think about getting out of bed young man!” The nurse scolded. “You nearly died! I won’t have you leaving any time soon!”

Madame Pomfrey distributed large amounts of chocolate and stood over their beds as they ate. Edward decided it was futile to convince the nurse to let him leave; and besides, as much as he hated to admit it, he _did_ feel rather sick and weak. As Madame Pomfrey was handing out more pieces of chocolate, the door to the hospital wing burst open.

“Brother! Are you alright?!” Alphonse had obviously heard of his brother’s predicament and was less than pleased. “I heard that there were dementors, and you passed out, are you–”

“Out!” Madame Pomfrey demanded before he could get any further. “Your brother will be fine, but he needs _rest,_ which he cannot get if someone comes barging in here every _five minutes!_ Now leave! You can see him tomorrow!” She waved the suit of armour towards the door.

“But–”

“No buts!” Madame Pomfrey insisted. “Go!”

“I’m fine, Al,” Ed reassured, glad that his voice had recovered significantly. “I promise.”

Alphonse did _not_ look convinced, but he reluctantly exited the room anyway. Madame Pomfrey shut the door with a huff.

“Honestly,” she muttered as she turned back to her patients. “This is supposed to be a hospital wing!”

“Is Ron alright?” Edward asked, noticing for the first time that Ron was either asleep or unconscious in the bed next to him.

“He passed out on the way up here,” Thalia told him. She had moved to the bed next to Harry and was sitting on the edge.

Thalia had barely finished speaking when a distant roar of fury met their ears, followed by angry voices which were rapidly growing closer.

“What now?!” Madame Pomfrey exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation.

The voices drew ever nearer until Edward could begin to make out what they were saying –

“…Must have Disapparated, Severus. We should have left somebody in the room with him. When this gets out —”

_“He didn’t Disapparate!”_ Snape roared, now easily heard. _“You can’t Apparate or Disapparate inside this castle!_ _THIS HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH POTTER!”_

“Severus, be reasonable!” The first voice protested. “Harry has been locked up–”

The door to the hospital wing flew open with a _bang,_ allowing Snape, Dumbledore, and a third man to enter. Dumbledore expression was as calm as ever, borderline amused. The third man looked severely agitated, but he had nothing on Snape, who was furious.

_“Out with it, Potter!”_ The professor shouted. _“What did you do?!”_

“Professor Snape!” Madame Pomfrey shrieked. “Please, control yourself!”

“See here, Snape,” The third man added. “Be reasonable. The door’s been locked, we just saw–”

“ _They helped him escape, I know it!”_ Snape yelled, pointing accusingly at Harry and Hermione.

     “That will do, Severus,” said Dumbledore quietly. “Think about what you are saying. This door has been locked since I left the ward ten minutes ago. Madam Pomfrey, have these students left their beds?”

     “Of course not!” said Madam Pomfrey, bristling. “I would have heard them!”

     “Well, there you have it, Severus,” said Dumbledore calmly. “The only other people in the room were Edward and Thalia, and I believe that Edward was unconscious until quite recently?” Here he raised his eyebrows at Edward.

     “That’s right,” Ed managed, still trying to make sense of everything. He decided the best course of action would be to play along and get answers from Hermione, Harry, and Thalia later.

     “Unless you are suggesting that Harry and Hermione are able to be in two places at once,” Dumbledore continued, “I’m afraid I don’t see any point in troubling them further.”

     Snape stood frozen, glaring around the room, before turning sharply and storming from the room.

     “Fellow seems quite unbalanced,” the third man said, staring after him. “I’d watch out for him if I were you, Dumbledore.”

     “Oh, he’s not unbalanced,” Dumbledore replied with a quiet smile. “He’s just suffered a severe disappointment.”

     “He’s not the only one!” The unidentified man huffed. “The  _Daily Prophet_ ’s going to have a field day! We had Black cornered and he slipped through our fingers yet again! All it needs now is for the story of that hippogriff’s escape to get out, and I’ll be a laughingstock! Well…I’d better go and notify the Ministry…”

     “And the dementors?” Dumbledore asked. “They’ll be removed from the school, I trust?”

     “Oh yes, they’ll have to go,” said the mystery man, running his fingers distractedly through his hair. “Never dreamed they’d attempt to administer the Kiss on an innocent boy…Completely out of control…no, I’ll have them packed off back to Azkaban tonight…Perhaps we should think about dragons at the school entrance…”

     “Hagrid would like that,” said Dumbledore, with a swift smile towards the students.

     He and the still unrecognizable man exited the room, much to the relief of Madame Pomfrey. She hurriedly locked the door to prevent any more intrusions, and, still muttering angrily to herself, she headed back to her office.

     A low moan came from the bed next to Edward’s indicating that Ron had woken up. He was currently sitting up in his bed, wincing as he looked around.

     “What happened?” He asked groggily.

     Ed turned to glare at Thalia, Hermione, and Harry. “Explain,” he demanded.

     The three friends looked at each other.

     “One of you can explain,” Harry declared, reaching for more chocolate.

     Thalia rolled her eyes. “Harry and Hermione used a Time-Turner to go back in time two hours and save Sirius and Buckbeak.”

     “You saved them?” Ron exclaimed, overjoyed. “Brilliant!”

     Edward blinked, and suddenly he found that his headache had returned full-force, and once again he didn’t know whether to be happy or angry–

_‘Happy of course, he’s innocent!’_

_‘Angry! You don’t have any evidence that what he said is true!’_

_‘Yes you do; remember? You saw Pettigrew with your own two eyes…’_

_‘NO! No, you did not! You did not you did not you DID NOT!’_

_‘You saw it…’_

_‘No!’_

_‘Yes…’_

_‘NO!’_

     “Edward!”

     Ed jumped, startled, to find that everyone was staring at him with a mixture of confusion and concern on their faces.

     “Are you alright?” Thalia asked slowly, eyeing him intently.

     “Y-yeah,” Edward said, though it didn’t sound convincing. Thalia didn’t look very convinced either, but Harry, Hermione, and Ron seemed satisfied enough.

     Ed couldn’t make himself pay attention as Hermione and Harry gave details of their adventures – he couldn’t even bring himself to ponder the idea of _time travel,_ no matter how interesting it was – because he was too preoccupied with the damn argument going on inside his damn brain and he couldn’t make sense of it in the _slightest_.

_‘Just think through what happened – I was outside – then I saw Thalia, Harry, and Hermione by the Whomping Willow – they told me that Ron got dragged off by a dog and into the tree.’_

     So far, so good – no oddly conflicting memories or headaches popping up yet.

_‘Okay, and then we went into the Shrieking Shack, and upstairs we found Ron and Sirius Black, and Lupin came up pretty soon after that. Then Black and Lupin told us their story.’_

     Still fine – no contradictions or uncertainties.

_‘And then – then Lupin asked to see Ron’s rat, so Ron pulled him out of his pocket–’_

_‘NO! The rat was never there!’_

     Edward growled in frustration. Half of his mind loudly declared that there had never been a rat; that was the problem, Black and Lupin didn’t have proof because Ron _didn’t have his rat._ Meanwhile, the other side told him that there _was_ a rat, that was the evidence, Ron had pulled the animal out of his pocket. The problem was that he remembered both sides as clear as day, and he couldn’t figure out why.

     That wasn’t even the only thing. As crushing as if it had happened yesterday, Edward could feel the guilt and sorrow and despair of when he discovered Susan White’s body, stabbed through the heart, obviously murdered. Yet the other side of him continued to whisper that he had never even seen her body; her death was an accident and he wasn’t anywhere near her.

     No matter how hard he tried, how much he studied and went over the events in his mind, Edward’s only reward was a splitting headache; as if the two arguments were playing tug-of-war with his brain. No matter how smart Edward Elric was, he couldn’t solve this problem.

     Luckily for him (or, perhaps, unluckily), he didn’t have to figure it out for himself. Hours later, when Edward had finally drifted into a restless sleep, he dreamed. Even by his standards, his dreams were terrible. Distracted by the terrors that his mind created to torment him, he barely noticed the voice. He certainly didn’t remember it the next day; nor at all, not for a very long time. All he remembered when he woke up from his nightmares was that Sirius Black was free, just as he deserved to be.


	29. You Really Take the 'Good' Out of 'Goodbye'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we come to a close; for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here it is; the last chapter…of the first book, that is. The second book will be published very soon! The first chapter, that is. I hope all of you have enjoyed the journey so far. I'd like to think that my writing has improved since chapter one…you'll have to tell me if you agree. Anyway, enjoy the last chapter and I hope to see you in the next book!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Fullmetal Alchemist, or Percy Jackson. Good thing too, or they wouldn’t be nearly as good as they are now. They belong to J.K. Rowling, Hiromu Arakawa, and Rick Riordan. Just to be safe, I also don’t own the song ‘This is War’ by Thirty Seconds to Mars.

_“blah blah”_ \- Speaking Greek

**“blah blah”** \- Speaking Amestrian

_‘blah blah’_ \- Thinking

*<*<*>*>* - Begin/end flashback

 

**Percy**

     Percy had never been good at waiting patiently. His ADHD had never lended well to sitting quietly and waiting for news; which was very unfortunate considering the circumstances. Thalia was off making sure everything happened the way it was supposed to happen, while Percy and Nico were left to wait. Nico seemed to be taking it well; but then again it was hard to tell what he was really thinking sometimes. He was expressionless as ever, only his eyes moving as he tracked Percy’s movement around the Gryffindor common room.

     “Why don’t you try sitting down?” Nico suggested with a sigh. “You’re going to wear a hole in the carpet.”

     Percy groaned in frustration and threw himself onto a chair by the fire. “Something had to have gone wrong,” he said, anxiously pulling out Riptide to fiddle with. “There’s no other reason that Thalia would have had to use the mist; and it must have been something really big if we could feel it all the way up here!”

     “I’m sure Thalia handled it,” Nico said, though he looked uneasy as well. “I mean, we heard Snape yelling, and the minister didn’t look very happy when he left; that has to count for something, right?”

     “I guess so,” Percy muttered, unsatisfied. He stood up and began pacing again. “Is it late enough to shadow-travel to the hospital wing?” He asked, turning to Nico.

     Nico checked the time. “Probably,” he said. “It’s nearly one; they should be asleep by now.” He stood up and stretched his arms above his head. “Be prepared to think up a really good excuse if someone sees us,” Nico warned.

     Percy nodded impatiently, holding out his arm for Nico to grab. The son of Hades obliged and the two boys were sucked into a moment of pure, cold, darkness before they found themselves in the hospital wing. Nico stumbled slightly, barely catching himself on the wall and breathing heavily.

     “Are you alright?” Percy whispered worriedly, reaching out a hand to steady him. The experience of shadow-traveling had left Percy breathless, and he couldn’t imagine what it must be like for Nico, who had actually performed the jump.

     Nico nodded, taking a deep breath and straightening up. “Where’s Thalia?” He asked quietly.

     “Over here,” Thalia whispered from a bed on the far side of the room, waving her hand to get their attention. Percy and Nico jumped slightly, startled at the unexpected voice. They recovered quickly and crossed the room to sit on the bed across from her.

     “What happened?” Percy demanded as soon as they were settled.

     Thalia sighed and looked down at her sheets. “Pettigrew didn’t show up at Hagrid’s house,” she began, keeping her voice soft so that she wouldn’t disturb the sleeping patients. “That was the first problem; but you should know how big of a problem that was.”

     Percy and Nico nodded grimly, and Percy could feel tendrils of dread working their way around his heart. If that was only the first problem, then how badly did everything turn out in the end? What if they had changed too much and completely destroyed the timeline?

     “I managed to recover the situation,” Thalia continued, “so Ron was still dragged off by Sirius. Then we met Edward at the Whomping Willow, and he came with us into the Shrieking Shack.”

     Percy clenched and unclenched his fist, trying to steady his breathing. So much had gone wrong…so many things could be changed…and this was such a pivotal moment in the timeline…

     “Everything in the Shrieking Shack happened almost the way it was supposed to,” Thalia said. “Except that Pettigrew wasn’t there, so there wasn’t any evidence…” Thalia hesitated briefly. “There was no other option,” she said quietly. “I had to use the mist…there was no other way to fix everything.”

     “We know,” Nico said. “We felt it up here…what exactly did you do?”

     “I told them that the deaths were an accident,” Thalia said with a sigh. “And I told them that we found Pettigrew, proved that Sirius and Remus’s story was true, and then that he escaped. Except–” Thalia paused again. “I couldn’t have done it by myself.”

     Percy and Nico looked at each other in confusion.

     Percy furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?” He asked, puzzled.

     “Someone helped me,” Thalia admitted. “When I was using the mist…there was a voice…I don’t remember it exactly…but someone – or something – helped me with the mist.”

     “Who do you think it could have been?” Percy asked, unconsciously pulling out and fiddling with Riptide again. “Could it have been Hecate?” His eyes darted around nervously, as if the ancient goddess were in the room with them, watching.

     Thalia shook her head, her grip tightening on the sheets around her. “I don’t know. Maybe – I didn’t see anyone, I don’t even remember what the voice sounded like – it could have been anyone.”

     There was silence as the three demigods considered the possibilities.Footsteps from Madame Pomfrey’s office interrupted their musings.

     “Hurry and get out of here,” Thalia hissed, pulling the covers up around her to look as if she were asleep.

     There was a scramble of limbs in which Nico and Percy missed each other, Nico nearly fell off the bed, and Percy did fall off the bed. Nico reached down to grab Percy’s arm, and then they were back in the common room.

~o~O~o~

     The morning dawned hot, sunny, and normal – as if nothing remotely extraordinary had happened the night before. In fact the atmosphere was more lighthearted and happy then Percy had seen it in months; no doubt the result of Thalia’s changes with the mist. Another change from the mist was that Hogsmeade visits were no longer prohibited; and so the castle was nearly abandoned by the afternoon.

     Hermione and Ron, though able, had no desire to leave the castle. Instead, the friends spent their afternoon traversing the grounds. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been quite excited to share the events of the previous night. Percy and Nico nodded throughout the whole thing, displaying appropriate reactions as if they knew nothing about it.

     They eventually came to rest beside the lake, lounging on the warm grass and watching the gentle ripples in the water as the wind blew softly over the water. The atmosphere was so peaceful that Percy wanted to close his eyes and sleep. Though that may have been a result of his lack of sleep the previous night. A shadow suddenly fell over them, blocking the sun’s warm beams. Looking up, it was revealed to be Hagrid, who appeared overjoyed.

     “Know I shouldn’ feel happy, after wha’ happened las’ night,” he said. “I mean, Black escapin’ again, an’ everythin’ — but guess what?”

     “What?” They asked, pretending to look curious.

     “Beaky!” Hagrid declared happily. “He escaped! He’s free! Bin celebratin’ all night!”

     “That’s wonderful!” Hermione declared, shooting a reproving look at Ron, who looked close to laughter.

     “Yeah…can’t’ve tied him up properly,” said Hagrid, gazing happily out over the grounds. “I was worried this mornin’, mind…thought he mighta met Professor Lupin on the grounds, but Lupin says he never ate anythin’ las’ night…”

     “What?” Harry asked quickly.

     “Blimey, haven’ yeh heard?” Said Hagrid, his smile fading a little. He lowered his voice, even though there was nobody in sight. “Er – Snape told all the Slytherins this mornin’…Thought everyone’d know by now…Professor Lupin’s a werewolf, see. An’ he was loose on the grounds las’ night…He’s packin’ now, o’ course.”

     Harry’s head jerked up. “He’s  _packing_?” he asked, alarmed. “Why?”

     “Leavin’, isn’ he?” Said Hagrid, looking surprised that Harry had to ask. “Resigned firs’ thing this mornin’. Says he can’t risk it happenin’ again.”

     Harry scrambled to his feet. “I’m going to see him,” he declared.

     “But if he’s resigned–” Hermione began, surprised at Harry’s sudden movement.

     “Doesn’t sound like there’s anything we can do,” Ron warned Harry.

     “I don’t care,” Harry said, fists clenched in determination. “I still want to see him. I’ll meet you back here.” With that, he dashed off to the castle.

     “It’s shame that he can’t stay,” Ron sighed as he watched Harry’s retreating figure. “He was better than any other Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we’ve had.”

     “We’ve only had three including him,” Hermione reminded him. “Our next teacher may be just as good.”

     Percy resisted the urge to grimace. If only she knew…

     “Oi!” Ron said, drawing the others’ attention. “There’s Edward!” He pointed to the small red figure walking along the lake.

     “Edward!” Hermione called, waving at the young professor. He turned and walked over to them, and Percy caught a glimpse of a serious expression on his face before he replaced it with an easy smile.

     “How’s your leg?” Ed asked Ron, nodding to Ron’s previously broken limb.

     “It’s fine now,” Ron said. “Madame Pomfrey fixed it up.”

     Ed frowned in annoyance. “That shouldn’t be possible,” he muttered. “Just like everything that happens around here.”

     Percy smiled in amusement. Even after months of seeing magic, it seemed that the alchemist still refused to accept it as logical. Not that magic _was_ logical.

     “Are you coming back next year, Ed?” Hermione asked hopefully, squinting up at Edward.

     Edward scowled. “Not if I have anything to say about it,” he declared. Seeing Hermione’s crestfallen expression, he hurried to assure her. “It’s not anything to do with you – or the people – but I have things I have to do at home. I’m sure you’ll get another teacher though!”

     “There isn’t any chance you’re going to come back?” Thalia asked, narrowing her eyes.

     “I will if I’m ordered to,” Ed grumbled. “But this whole ‘teacher’ situation has never suited me. I have more important things to do–” Edward suddenly winced and brought his hand up to his head.

     “Are you alright?” Ron asked, alarmed.

     “I’m fine,” Ed managed, moving his hand away from his head and straightening up. “I just got a headache all of a sudden…but it’s gone now.”

     From there, the conversation turned to final exams and holiday plans. Thalia had an odd expression on her face and kept giving Edward strange glances, though Percy couldn’t imagine why. The rest of the day passed quickly, as did the remaining week at Hogwarts.

     The cheerful chattering on the Hogwarts express almost made Percy forget their serious situation. They hadn’t caught Elsie – not only that but they hadn’t accomplished anything. They had information, but no way to do anything with it.

     That meant another year at Hogwarts. Another year away from home. Another year hiding in plain sight, with only each other to confide in. Percy didn’t want another _day_ of that; but there was nothing he could do about it. Looking around the compartment at his friends, Percy felt a stab of guilt for wanting to leave them.

_‘There’s no way to win, is there?’_ Percy thought forlornly. _‘While we stay here, everyone and everything we know is unreachable. When we go back to our time, we’re going to leave them – our friends – behind. There’s no way around it.’_ Percy smiled sadly. _‘But that’s the way it’s supposed to be. We aren’t supposed to be here…when we do leave…they’ll be fine without us.’_

**Elsie**

     Elsie bent over her work, writing at an astonishing pace. She filled the last page in her notebook and sighed in frustration.

_‘That’s the second one this week,’_ she thought in annoyance. A smile quirked at her lips. _‘Well, I guess I was asking for it when I decided to time travel.’_ Closing the notebook, Elsie added ‘part one’ to the title.

_‘I wouldn’t have to have more than one notebook if those stupid little demigods weren’t so persistent,’_ Elsie grumbled to herself. _‘They think they’re so smart with their_ _minimal_ _control of the mist and their oh-so-wonderful godly abilities…’_

     A little voice Elsie’s mind whispered that for teenagers, they actually _were_ fairly powerful. She told the little voice in her mind to shut up and go sit in a corner. Leaning back in her chair, Elsie reached behind her to grab a stack of full notebooks. Flipping through the titles, she found the one she was looking for.

_‘Harry Potter…Ronald Weasley…Hermione Granger…Ah! Edward Elric, that’s the one!’_

     Flipping to the back of the notebook where the last few empty pages resided, Elsie brandished her quill and began to write.

_Doesn’t want to return to Hogwarts for obvious reasons, which is problematic for obvious reasons. I should have known he would be resistant to coming here a second year, so really this is just stupidity on my part. Options for his return:_

  1. ****_Manipulate Amestrian government again so that he is ordered to return…this could work, but he’s sure to put up a fight about it, and I may be exposed. Can’t risk that happening._
  2. ****_Plant a believable and very promising lead on the philosopher’s stone. He would jump at the chance, even if it meant coming back to Hogwarts again. If I can ensure that Alphonse comes as well, that doubles my chances._



     Elsie set her quill down and examined what she had written.

_‘The second option is the most promising…after all, he’d do anything to get Alphonse’s body back. What a useful weakness that I can exploit.’_ Elsie smirked. _‘You_ _will_ _be coming back, Edward Elric, whether you want to or not.’_

     Closing the notebook, Elsie shoved it back onto the shelf with the others. She scanned the titles, debating whether or not to pull one out to study or to get some much-needed rest. Her eyes landed on the notebook titled _demigod interference - part one_ and she smirked again. Stroking the title, she whispered:

     “You think you can stop me, don’t you? You think you’re so clever because you figured out my name, don’t you? Because you’ve ‘fixed’ a few problems? Well, let me tell you a little secret…” Leaning in closer, Elsie’s smirk grew. “I’ve _always_ been in control. And I _always_ will be.”


End file.
